College Daze
by BeastmasterFC
Summary: What would happen if the Seishi of both Suzaku and Seiryu, AND the pair of Mikos, moved into your dorm room? This is the story of what happens when your average anime fangirl finds out.


College Daze  
  
By Fire Child  
  
Hello! This fic was inspired by an idea I had. To wit: If the Suzaku Shichiseishi, the Seiryu Shichiseishi and the two Mikos went to college in the Real World, encountering four otaku roomies along the way, what would happen? Be prepared for ecchi-ness (lemon and/or lime, hey, these are college students, after all…), anime cameos (Dun worry, I'll tell ya!), and bad jokes. OOC-ness on the part of, well, practically everyone. Ashitare's and Miboshi's human forms are the product of my own imagination, as are Mouse, Po-chan, Tsubaki, and Hiko-chan. Everyone else, however, is property of Watase Yuu-sama (a.k.a., Goddess of Anime).  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
As usual, when I walked into the Campus Club, the place was both crowded and loud. My kind of club, na? Suddenly, a familiar figure hailed me from a nearby table. "Hiko-chan! Etchi shiyou? [1]" I sighed. It was Hideo. He must have been pretty plastered, or he'd never, ever say that.  
  
"Eirian mitai na kao shiyagatte, mukou e ike! [2]" He grinned, and responded in English.  
  
"Oh, well. Can't blame a guy for tryin'…" Just then, my attention was distracted by an argument at the bar.  
  
"What's going on, hun?" It was Mouse. Nobody knew her real name, but I could tell her apart always because she called everyone 'hun'. I grinned.  
  
"The second-oldest argument in history. That guy wants some more booze and the 'tender's cuttin' him off." I looked harder. The arguer had a wild shock of fiery hair. A very familiar shock of fiery hair. He was also swearing in Kansai-accented Japanese at the startled bartender.  
  
"Ya know, if I didn't know better, I'd swear that was Tasuki." Mouse blinked.  
  
"How much have you had, hun?"  
  
"I just GOT here!" Mouse sighed.  
  
"Then I suppose it must BE Tasuki."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Once you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. Hey! Po-chan! Tsubaki!" The named blonde and redhead came over. I sighed and wandered off. WHAM! I collided with someone. A familiar deep voice said,  
  
"Please excuse me. I wasn't looking where I was going." I looked up (did I mention my severe lack of altitude?) from my contemplation of the not- quite-that-strange stranger's red-silk-clad chest to meet a pair of contrite hazel eyes.  
  
"Eep…" Saihitei Seishuku, also known as Suzaku Seishi Hotohori, cocked his head curiously at me.  
  
"Miss?" I couldn't get my vocal cords to work and my face felt like it was on fire.  
  
'Just GREAT,' I thought, 'I'm face-to-face with one of the hottest guys ever to grace an anime and I can't make my voice cooperate.' I struggled to keep a goofy grin off my face. "I… uh… ohboy… daijoubu."  
  
"Hontou?"  
  
"Hontou!" I was painfully aware that I was making a prat of myself. "So… where are the rest?" He smiled, and my heart actually stopped beating for a second before starting up again, in triple-time.  
  
"Ano… Tasuki's at the bar arguing with the bartender," So that was Tasuki! "I haven't seen Nuriko since we came in, Chiriko and Mitsukake aren't here, Tamahome, Miaka, and Yui are eating, Chichiri is on the dance floor, same as Tomo," That figured. "I haven't seen either twin, Soi and Nakago are nowhere to be found, thank Suzaku, and Miboshi and Ashitare are somewhere, but nobody can find them." I blinked.  
  
"How hard can it be to lose a wolfman and a little, bald, hovering, evil- minded whatsit?" He chuckled.  
  
"When they're human, very hard indeed. Onamae wa?"  
  
"My real name's Arkeyla, but everyone here calls me Hiko-chan, because my main online name is Fire Child." Suddenly, Nuriko showed up. I beamed. "Konbanwa, Nuriko! Or," I added, noticing Nuriko's very male profile, "is it Ryuuen?" The bishounen grimaced.  
  
"I'm afraid so. I have the worst luck in the world to be born male again." Then, turning to Hotohori, he announced, with a mischievous smirk, "I brought drinks! How about a slow, comfortable screw against the wall? [3]" The flustered swordsman made a noise reminiscent of a startled seagull.  
  
"NANI!" I couldn't help it. I broke down laughing.  
  
"It's a drink, not a proposition."  
  
"Oh…" Suddenly, an acerbic voice asked,  
  
"Disappointed, Saihitei?" Looking over my shoulder, Hotohori's beautiful face twisted into a look of pure, undiluted rage. I spun around, only to come face-to-chest with over six feet of smirking, ice-eyed blond Seiryu Seishi, dressed in a blue tank-top and jeans.  
  
"Ayuru, kono bakayarou, [4]" Hotohori growled, and I wondered who he was talking to, until I realized that I was hearing Nakago's true, given name for the first time. I sighed, seeing the glares the two were exchanging.  
  
"Guys? Guys? GUYS!" They both looked up. "Kono bakara! Senso wa OWARI desu yo[5]!" To my utter and total surprise, they both backed down, looking sheepish.  
  
"Shitsurei shimasu," Hotohori apologized.  
  
"Hai, gomen nasai. We forget, sometimes, and start up the old feud." That was Nakago! The most powerful of the Seiryu Shichiseishi, apologizing to a short, ill-tempered, entirely ordinary college freshman! (Namely, My Good Self.) I took my leave of them with a grin, going to find the others. My quest was sidetracked, however, because as a particularly heated song started, my shoulder was tapped. I turned around, only to see Nuriko pointing to a spot on the dance floor. I turned to look, and my jaw dropped. Chichiri was out there, but that wasn't what made my jaw drop. It was what he was doing. The eldest Suzaku Seishi was moving slowly in time to the music.  
  
'Moving very well indeed,' I admitted to myself. He wasn't so much dancing as he was writhing in his space on the dance floor, his wrists crossed above his head and his eye closed, for he wasn't wearing his mask, as his lips moved along with the words. His denim-encased hips flexed in time with the beat, and a black T-shirt clung to his chest and back. I bit back a soft moan as I watched him. Sekushii, I thought. As the tempo of the music increased, so did the rhythm of his writhing hips, and, when the music hit a hard, sudden chord, he thrust. A sudden surge of blood rushed to my head, distracting me from the seductive sight before my eyes. I clapped my hand to my face, pulled it away crimson, and rushed to the bathroom. I couldn't believe I'd gotten a nosebleed! By the time the nosebleed cleared away, the song had ended. Another slinky song had started, and I noticed Hotohori dancing. Tearing my eyes away from the utterly erotic picture the former Emperor of Konan presented, I went over to Nuriko, tapped him on the shoulder, and pointed towards Hotohori. The strong Seishi turned, and his mouth fell open, his eyes glazing over.  
  
"Wow," he whispered, practically drooling.  
  
'My good deed for the day,' I thought, and went to find Chichiri. I found him, once again dancing, at the other end of the dance floor. I watched for maybe a minute, then decided, making my way towards the blue- haired mage and locking an arm around his waist, moving in time with him. He sighed, arching into the contact. I was elated, pinching myself to confirm my awake-ness and smothering a yelp. 'Whoa,' I thought, 'I'm really awake, this is real life, and I'm dancing with Chichiri!' We stayed like that until the song ended, then he detached himself.  
  
"Ano… gomen nasai no da." I couldn't help but giggle. "Nani?"  
  
"You kept your no da's!" He looked down.  
  
"Are they that bad… no da?" I beamed.  
  
"No, you silly! I've always liked them. And, hey, no need to apologize. That was MY idea." He blushed.  
  
"Daa…" I giggled.  
  
"Wai! Red and blue go SO well together!" Several hours later, I, as well as my three roomies, had been introduced to the entire gang, and we all were happily chatting. "So," I turned to the boy my brain insisted on referring to as the 'New, Improved Miboshi', "you're exchange students, or are you going to be staying in America after college?"  
  
"We're staying," Miboshi's light voice answered me. He'd apparently shaped up the form he wore quite a bit. Now, instead of the little, bald, butt-ugly floating thing, a somewhat short college-age boy regarded me with a sloe-eyed gaze, his elbow-length black hair braided and thrown over his shoulder. What with those features and his bronze skin, the 'New, Improved Miboshi' reminded me wonderfully of Wufei from Gundam Wing, albeit older and with longer hair.  
  
"We're in the dorm at the top of the West Tower," a husky voice added. I turned to Ashitare, now a tall, tanned boy with high cheekbones, lupine blue eyes, and brown-black hair tied back in a thick ponytail, in surprise, exclaiming,  
  
"That's where Tsubaki, Mouse, Po-chan and me live!" The werewolf, whose human form, I had decided, resembled a somewhat older, more taciturn Rekka no Ryo, smiled his slow, feral smile.  
  
"Then you'll be able to help us get set up, as well as keeping our Seishi and Miko identities a secret?" I grinned.  
  
"About the identities, there's definitely gonna be a few who recognize you, but you'll be alright, and, as for the setup, I speak for all of us when I agree." Suddenly, a large, unpleasant, familiar form lurched up, pointed to Tomo, and, in a slurred voice, yelled,  
  
"Hey! You! I ain't seen ya around here before. You new here?" Tomo sneered and unfolded his slim form from the chair, saying, coldly, as he did so,  
  
"I believe that is the meaning of the word 'new'. My English must not be too good. I thought 'new' meant 'one who hasn't been in a place before', but you're more than welcome to correct me if I'm wrong." The tough, who I'd identified as a habitual drinker infamous throughout the school, snorted. Said drunkard went by the rather unfortunate name of Jack Russell, and, as a result, had picked up the nickname 'Terrier'. He poked a burly finger into the chest of the slender Seiryu Seishi.  
  
"Are you dissin' me, pretty boy? Are you dissin' me?" When he got no answer, Terrier growled, picked the illusionist up by his shirt front, and hurled him into a table. Tomo struck back first, gasped in pain, and went limp. It was then that I did the stupidest thing I'd ever done. I decided to help Tomo out.  
  
"Oi! Ugly! Yeah, over here! Na-na-na-na-na-na! Your mommy smoked weed and your daddy wore high heels! Whoa! What's that hideous growth on your neck? Oh, wait, it's your face! You're so ugly, you- Gahh!" My tirade broke off as I was struck a punishing blow and flew through the air, only to collide with the bar and land in a crumpled heap. I was only dimly aware of more blows being landed, each harder than the last, before unconsciousness wrapped me up in its warm arms and I was gone. I woke up in the UCSF hospital. Everything was blurry for a second, then the scene resolved itself into three concerned roomies, two concerned Mikos, fourteen concerned Seishi and one concerned brown-and-white kitten, all crowded around my hospital bed. I checked my hospital attire. "Oh, yay," I muttered, "one of those stupid hospital gowns that don't close in the back." Po-chan (so nicknamed because, not only did she look like a younger Sally Po of Gundam Wing fame, her name really was Sally) grinned.  
  
"You know what they say…" she started, and the two of us finished the quote at the same time,  
  
"Bum to the breeze![6]" Sixteen blank human stares, two giggling roomies, and one blank feline stare greeted that comment. "Naaaaandemonai, minna-chan." Then, I had a bad thought.  
  
"Ano… what day is it?" Chiriko smiled.  
  
"It's the 3rd of December, and winter vacation has started." In case you didn't know, the University of California in San Francisco had just last year traded spring and midwinter vacations for a winter break lasting a whole month.  
  
"Ack! Two days to my birthday!" Tsubaki (nicknamed for her little obsession for winged Kitsune, read: the TSUBA of tsubasa, wing, and the KI of kitsune, fox, put together to make Tsubaki.) calmed my fears.  
  
"We all went birthday shopping yesterday while you slept. No worries, Hiko-chan." Chichiri winced slightly, but didn't comment on the similarity of my name to that of his deceased friend. Then, Mouse added,  
  
"Oh, you know what, hun?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"It snowed." I let out a Rebel yell, chased everyone out of the room, got into my clothes at warp speed, and shot outside, closely followed by friends old and new. To my deep and lasting surprise, (this was Northern California, after all) it had snowed several inches. I scooped up a handful and shoved it down the back of Ashitare's shirt.  
  
"That was for Nuriko." I threw a snowball into Nakago's face, "That was for Mitsukake, 'cuz, even though his death wasn't your doing, you STARTED that stupid war in the first place," and shoved another handful of snow down his shirt. "and that was for Hotohori." Then, I sneaked up behind Miboshi and put a snow chunk in his shirt. "That was for Chiriko." Then, I just randomly pelted all the FY charas. "That was for not showing up sooner, damnit!" Predictably, a snowball fight started, and, some hours later, we all trooped back to the dorm, exhausted, snow-covered, cold, and happy, for mugs of Po-chan's famous hot cocoa. After my first mug had been drained, I suddenly remembered what had been nagging at me since I woke. "ACK! The Otakon is in a week! We gotta get our costumes ready and finish that music video!" Po-chan put a hand on my shoulder.  
  
"Relax, Hiko-chan. We already have our costumes, well, we know who we're gonna be, anyway. Now, all we gotta do is make 'em and do that MV. Any ideas?" I had one, but before I could voice it, a thought occurred to me.  
  
"Hey, how the hell did I get outta the Campus Club?" Tomo answered me.  
  
"Tasuki and I worked together. Tasuki grabbed you and got out of there in a tearing hurry while I laid down an illusion of your presence so Yopparai-baka didn't notice you were gone." I giggled at Tomo's name for Terrier.  
  
"'Drunkard-idiot'? Sure suits him, ne?" A round of nods, grins, and 'hai's followed. "As I was about to say, I think, for our MV, we should do a salute to the bishounen of anime, set to 'I'm Too Sexy'." Tsubaki giggled.  
  
"Good idea, Hiko-chan!" I bowed.  
  
"Izzenit, though?" I suffered a flash of brilliance. "Shall we return to the Campus Club tonight?" This idea was greeted with a round of hearty cheering. The moment we reached the club, Ashitare bounded over to the DJ and whispered something in his ear. The DJ nodded, and soon, the first bars of Metallica's 'Of Wolf And Man' met my ears. Ashitare leaped straight up onto the stage and took the mike, singing the words himself in a low tenor reminiscent of wolves baying at the moon.  
  
"Off through the new day's mist I run.  
  
Out from the new day's mist I come.  
  
I hunt.  
  
Therefore I am.  
  
Harvest the land.  
  
Taking of a fallen lamb.  
  
Off through the new day's mist I run.  
  
Out from the new day's mist I have come  
  
We shift.  
  
Pulsing with the earth.  
  
Company we keep.  
  
Roaming the land where you sleep.  
  
Shape shift. Nose to the wind.  
  
Shape shift. Feeling I have been.  
  
Move swift. All senses clean.  
  
Earth's gift. Back to the meaning of life.  
  
Bright is the moon high in the starlight.  
  
Chill in the air cold as steel tonight.  
  
We shift.  
  
Call of the wild.  
  
Fear in your eyes.  
  
It's later than you realized.  
  
Shape shift. Nose to the wind.  
  
Shape shift. Feeling I have been.  
  
Move swift. All senses clean.  
  
Earth's gift. Back to the meaning of life.  
  
I feel a change.  
  
Back to a better day.  
  
Shape shift.  
  
Hair stands on the back of my neck.  
  
Shape shift.  
  
In wildness is the preservation of the world.  
  
So seek the wolf in thyself.  
  
Shape shift. Nose to the wind.  
  
Shape shift. Feeling I've been.  
  
Move swift. All senses clean.  
  
Earth's gift.  
  
Back to the meaning of wolf and man." Then, as the final notes echoed through the club, he tilted his head back and howled a clear, chilling wolf howl. The club went wild. As we went back to the dorm that night, Tsubaki poked me in the shoulder.  
  
"Ne, Hiko-chan…"  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"What would you say if I told you I got video footage of the guys dancing for the 'No way I'm disco dancing' segments of 'I'm Too Sexy'?" I yelled with delight.  
  
"I'd say you're a genius!" I went to sleep that night humming 'Mizu Kagami'. The next day was entirely given over to preparing the music video. I had managed to acquire a few Slayers video clips and, finding them, promptly bullied Tsubaki, our resident computer whiz, into adding them. We had bishies from all the series I recognized and a few I didn't. The ones I did recognize predominated, including a clip of Momiji slapping Kusanagi for the first 'Love's going to leave me' bit. Just for fun, I dredged up the infamous 'Suzaku Seven in Drag' clip and asked, "Can we include this?" Predictably, the entire Suzaku team looked at the clip and shouted, almost with one voice,  
  
"NO!" I grinned and explained that I'd been joking. The Seiryu Seven, attracted by the chaos, wandered over, took one look at the clip, and, as one, fell over laughing. I snickered.  
  
"What I wouldn't give for a time machine and a camera!" Then, once the video was done, the four of us, namely, me, Po-chan, Mouse, and Tsubaki, danced around singing 'I'm Too Sexy'.  
  
"I'm too sexy for my love  
  
too sexy for my love  
  
love's going to leave  
  
I'm too sexy for my shirt  
  
too sexy for my shirt  
  
so sexy it hurts  
  
I'm too sexy for my land  
  
New York and Japan  
  
I'm too sexy for your party  
  
too sexy for your party  
  
the way I'm disco dancing  
  
I'm a model, ya know what I mean  
  
and I do my little turn on the catwalk  
  
yeah on the catwalk  
  
on the catwalk yeah  
  
I do my little turn on the catwalk  
  
I'm too sexy for my car  
  
too sexy for my car  
  
too sexy by far  
  
I'm too sexy for my hat  
  
too sexy for my hat  
  
what ya think about that  
  
I'm a model, ya know what I mean  
  
and I do my little turn on the catwalk  
  
yeah on the catwalk  
  
on the catwalk yeah  
  
I shake my little tush on the catwalk  
  
too sexy for my  
  
too sexy for my  
  
too sexy for my  
  
I'm a model, ya know what I mean  
  
and I do my little turn on the catwalk  
  
yeah on the catwalk  
  
yeah on the catwalk yeah  
  
I shake my little tush on the catwalk  
  
I'm too sexy for my cat  
  
too sexy for my cat  
  
poor pussy  
  
poor pussy cat  
  
I'm too sexy for my love  
  
too sexy for my love  
  
love's going to leave me  
  
And I'm too sexy for this song!" The combined forces of Seiryu and Suzaku watched in mixed fascination and dismay. We finished the song and flopped down on the myriad beanbag chairs in the main room, laughing like anything. In the evening, on our way to the dining hall for dinner, we ran across Christine, Tammy, Clarise, and Kim, the four biggest bitch-sluts in the school, known to us as the B.O.B., or, to give the full title, the Bunch of Bitches. They were infamous for treating anything with matching chromosomes (except each other, of course) like dirt and throwing themselves like streetwalkers at anything with a 'Y' chromosome. This, of course, they immediately did. Kim glommed onto Hotohori, and was immediately peeled off by Nuriko. The look Nuriko gave her was one that a certain other purple-haired anime bishounen, namely the infamous Koppii Rezo, would have been proud of producing in a fit of fury, and, of course, Kim quailed under its intensity, and Nuriko threw her away from him and went to assist Soi in prying Christine off of Nakago. Between Nuriko and Soi, they soon removed and cowed her. Mouse hauled Clarise off of Tasuki, receiving a look of profound gratitude from the bandit, and I moved, just in time, to assist Yui in separating Tammy from Suboshi. The B.O.B. removed, we continued to dinner, and from thence back to the dorm, where I promptly fell asleep with visions of presents dancing in my head. The next morning, I woke, sat up, and promptly bounced out to the main room, where a total of 19 presents sat. I whooped, but before I could open them, I had to attend to the problem of rousing Tasuki. He lay on his back, cocooned to the waist in his sheets with his undershirt rucked up to his armpits, snoring like a cement mixer. I grinned.  
  
"Jeez, what a messy sleeper…" He presented an extremely kawaii sight, but the fact remained that he should be awake.  
  
"We've tried everything," Po-chan wailed, "and nothing worked!" I grinned.  
  
"Did you try this?" With that, I stuck an index finger into each side of my mouth, doubled my tongue up behind my teeth, and blew. PHWEEEEEEER! Tasuki swore up a blue streak, tried to sit up, got even further tangled up in his sheets, and fell out of bed. Po-chan and I fell over laughing, then scooted out of there, fast. Once Tasuki had joined us in the main room, muzzy-eyed from sleep and still swearing while yanking on a black T-shirt that read 'Beware of the Pyro' in red letters, I sat down, folded my legs under me in mock-lotus position, and proceeded to get down to the serious business of present-opening and wrapping-paper-confettification. The first present I opened was from Mouse. It was a little mini-pillow, one of those plush tiger-striped deals, and I squealed and hugged it. "WAAAI!" Po-chan's was next. "Yatta! A YuYuHakusho artbook!" Tsubaki's, however, was the present that caused me to emit almost supersonic shrieks of delight. "WAAAAAAI! The entire, subbed Slayers NEXT and TRY box sets! How did you afford this?! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" For Tsubaki, wonderful person that she was, knew of my little, OK, huge, Xelloss obsession (and the fact that I consider David Moo to be a force for evil rivaled only by Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo) and had gotten me the only two Slayers series in which he appeared. Miaka's present was a sketchpad and a very comprehensive collection of colored pencils. Tamahome's was an envelope. I opened it and a certificate fell out. It read, 'One Year of Martial Arts Training, Free of Charge.' I chuckled at that, knowing well how Scrooge-ish Tamahome could get if you let him. Hotohori's gift was a wonderfully-made bokken and a certificate for a year of kendo instruction, from him, of course. I whooped and hugged him. Nuriko's present was a beautiful golden crane-patterned kimono that I immediately resolved to find a reason to wear. Chichiri's present was in a hatbox, which, of course, I opened. It was a perfect copy of his kasa. I howled with glee and glomped onto the blushing mage. "ARIGATOU! Does it work?"  
  
"Of course, no da!" Mouse tapped me on the shoulder and asked, wobbly chibi-eyes and all,  
  
"Can I borrow that some time, hun?" I beamed.  
  
"Mi kasa es su kasa, mi amiga! [7]" Tasuki's present was a baseball- sized sphere of flame. When I touched it, it flared up into the shape of a phoenix, then, when I touched it again, it changed to a tiger. Locking an arm behind his head, Tasuki explained,  
  
"It won't burn what it's set on, and it changes shape when ya touch it. Ometedou tanjyoubi." I shrieked and hugged him, making him turn a shade of scarlet to match Tsubaki's hair.  
  
"Sugoi!" Mitsukake's present was a book of kanji, hiragana and katakana symbols and their meanings. I hugged the silent healer, making him blush. Chiriko's gift was a calligraphy kit. "Wai! The Four Treasures! There's an ink stone, several ink sticks, a brush and brush holder, and real rice paper! Arigatou!" Then, it was the Seiryu group's turn. Yui's present was… rather large. I opened it and nearly fell over. Inside the paper were three books. The first had a picture of the Sphinx on the cover, and I opened it to find a compendium of Egyptian myths and legends and a large section of full-color artists' renderings of the gods and goddesses of that land. The second book, which had a fan on the cover, was similar in content but based on the mythology and pantheon of Japan. There was even a full telling of the Kushinada legend! The last book was of the same sort, but it had four animals on the cover. In clockwise order from the top, here they were: a black serpent-tortoise, a blue dragon, a red phoenix, and a white tiger. The book's contents, this time, were centered on China's myths and pantheon. Even the first origin of the Four Gods was there! I yelled with delight, hopping up and down like a pogo stick on crack and having a serious attack of the spazzies. "WOOHOO! Doumo arigatou gozaimasu!" Yui grinned.  
  
"Dou itashimashite." Nakago and Tomo both gave me bits of their power, Nakago's for shields and, as he put it, 'flicking little spheres of ki at obnoxious classmates,' and Tomo's for creating anime effects in real life, like twitching forehead veins, facefaults, and sweatdrops. Soi's present was fairly light, for a change. I opened it and giggled. It was a black T- shirt with fiery letters reading 'Born To Raise Hell'. Amiboshi, arm locked firmly behind his head in a shy fit, handed me a blue-cased CD with obscure silver kanji on it. Blushing, he explained that he'd made a flute CD and that what he'd given me was a copy of it. Suboshi's gift was a honest-to- goodness Go set, complete with game board and rules.  
  
"Wai!" I hugged both twins and turned expectantly to Ashitare. His gift was a beautiful poster, a pack of wolves howling at the moon in a winter forest. I whooped, glomped the werewolf, and tacked the poster up on the wall of my room. Miboshi's gift was a pair of silver bracelets that, when worn right, had an onyx cabochon on the backhand side, a fire-opal cabochon on the palm side, a lapis-lazuli cabochon on the right side, and a moonstone cabochon on the left side.  
  
"They represent the fact that you give your loyalty to all four gods, not choosing sides, but that's not all. Give the bracelets a tickle with your ki, I know you have it or Nakago's and Tomo's gifts wouldn't have taken, and see what happens." I did, and was rewarded when the bracelets expanded into metal gauntlets, swirled black, white, red, and blue, that were nonetheless as light as if they were fabric, yet clanking when I tapped them, and very reminiscent of Nuriko's pair.  
  
"WAAAAAAAIIIIII! Domo arigatou!" Mouse V-symboled.  
  
"And tonight we're going to that Hunan restaurant you like, coming back here to drop off Mitsukake, who doesn't want to go, and Chiriko, who, at thirteen, is too young, then we're going to a REAL dance club, which means…"  
  
"Nani? Nani? Nani?"  
  
"We're going shopping for clubbing clothes!" Mouse crowed.  
  
"YAAAAAY!" Mitsukake and Chiriko were left behind to hold the fort, and the remaining eighteen of us sped off to these two stores Mouse knew about. On the way, Hotohori graciously volunteered, with only minimal coercion from that greatest of female weapons, the 'innocent-cute' look, to pay for everything we couldn't, which led to him being glomped by Nuriko, as well as every girl in the group, after we got to the men's store (since there were more males {11} than females {7} in our little group) and those who didn't know had been clued in.  
  
"He's a model," Nuriko told us in a stage whisper, "so he's rich as anything."  
  
"COOL!" The guys (yes, Nuriko was among them) were set loose to find whatever they liked, and Mouse shanghaied a (gay) clerk she knew into making sure nobody had to be arrested by the Fashion Police. An hour or two later, all of the guys had finished changing and were coming out, one-by- one, to see if their outfits met with our approval. Did they ever! Hotohori was the first one out of the changing rooms, and even Soi's jaw dropped. He wore an open, scarlet, close-cut vest, revealing a red phoenix tattoo on his right bicep and the 'hoshi' symbol on his neck, a pair of black 'bondage pants' that looked like they'd been spray-painted on, and a pair of black, Victorian-looking boots like the pair I myself wore. His accessories were simple: a slim gold chain around his neck, a larger one acting as a belt (which, incidentally, drew attention to his flat stomach), and a ruby stud earring in each ear. His hair was loosely tied back with a strip of blood-red cloth.  
  
"I…I…ai-yai-yai…" was all I was able to say. I hadn't known his ears were pierced. Tasuki was next. Tsubaki's jaw hit the floor then, making a decent attempt at digging itself into the carpeting, and mine promptly joined it. His shirt was more like a web of black leather straps and a silver ring each on the front and back of his torso holding the straps together than it was like any true shirt, his pants were also black leather and, if possible, even tighter than Hotohori's, and he had on a pair of clunky, silver-studded black 'shit-kicker' combat boots. Against all that black, his hair glowed like a torch, and I could see that he had on his customary earrings, but no necklaces. He also wore a black trench coat with the sleeves rolled up, and I could see the 'yoku' symbol on his arm, but I didn't doubt that he'd ditch said coat as soon as we got into the club. Compared with the others', Chichiri's outfit was fairly conservative, but my jaw dropped anyway. A white, body-hugging T-shirt, a black, silver- embroidered leather bomber jacket, inhumanly tight blue jeans, and boots like Hotohori wore covered the embarrassed mage. He wore a simple earring in his right ear, a silver chain with a ruby teardrop that nearly brushed his shoulder. "Hey," I whispered. "Anata no kamen wa doko?[8]"  
  
"Gone, no da." Oh. The rest of the boys arrived, in tight, dark, dramatic clothing that emphasized the positive, and, as for the negative, what negative? They changed back, and we paid, and Hotohori did NOT end up paying for it all, at our insistence, then went on to the women's store. After about half an hour's judicious digging among the racks, I made my choice and headed to the changing rooms.  
  
"Lessee, fishnet nylons: check, black, almost-not-there shorts: check, black, fuzzy, chest-inflating bra: check, long-sleeved, see-through shirt: check, black bitch boots: check." I donned the named articles of clothing, put my long hair up in a ponytail, and stepped out of the changing room. Tamahome blinked, Hotohori blushed, Nuriko and the 'Boshi twins applauded, Chichiri's jaw hit the floor, Tasuki wolf-whistled, a sentiment which was echoed immediately by all the straight guys, and Tomo V-symboled. Tsubaki waved me over. She had on a black, mid-thigh-length fuzzy skirt with slits high up the sides, a black, fuzzy tank top with a neckline so deep it would take scuba gear to view it properly, and beautiful black, fuzzy, open-toed shoes with three-inch heels. She grinned.  
  
"Wait 'till you see what Soi's wearing! We convinced her to go all out by saying she could easily beat any perverts into submission." I grinned.  
  
"And she can, too." Tsubaki echoed my grin.  
  
"Two words." She said.  
  
"Hakujin Raiho!" We chorused, and grinned. Just then, Soi stepped out. She had, indeed, gone all out. Her short skirt, only six inches long and deep blue with 'SLUT' scribbled all over it in black, showed the 'bo' symbol on her thigh, her black, short-sleeved shirt showed all her midriff, and she wore the perfect pair of black bitch boots. Then, Tsubaki tapped my shoulder, handed me a camera, and spun me around. Nakago's mouth was hanging open as he stared. I giggled childishly, snapped a picture, and returned the camera. As soon as we were finished changing back and paying, my and Miaka's stomachs told everyone in the group it was time for dinner, so we went back to the dorm to get Chiriko and Mitsukake. At the restaurant, Hotohori amazed us four uninitiates (me, Po-chan, Tsubaki, and Mouse) and delighted the young waitress by ordering for all of us in perfect Chinese. Then, however, he kept talking. Nuriko's face went tight.  
  
"What's he saying?" The gender-confused Seishi scowled.  
  
"He's flirting with the waitress." I struggled to keep from voicing a particularly shrill giggle, and my struggle must have shown on my face, because Nuriko's foot crashed down hard on my instep.  
  
"Ite!" I turned to Nuriko, fury in my eyes. "Nuriko, keep it up and I won't tell you how you can get your male body to match your female soul." He looked up, hope shining in his brown eyes.  
  
"There's a way?"  
  
"If you have one thing."  
  
"What's that?" I grinned, and said the word just as Tamahome did, spacing out the syllables.  
  
"O. Ka. Ne."  
  
"I got it. My parents own a textile company. Tell. Me."  
  
"A sex-change operation. They exist in America." Suddenly, I was being glomped by a very happy Nuriko.  
  
"WAAAIII! Thank you thank you thank you! I owe you forever!"  
  
"Nuriko… I can't… oof… breathe…" Sheepish, he released me.  
  
"Gomen nasai." The meal came then, and we ate happily, with Nuriko coaching me so I finally learned the secret of eating noodles with chopsticks. After we'd paid, we drove back to the dorm, again, to drop off Mitsukake and Chiriko. Then, it was on to the club!  
  
"Woohoo! Karaoke night!" And it was. Hotohori had a song in mind, of course. "Um… can he sing in English?" I asked, recognizing the song. Nuriko grinned, looking, for the first time since I'd met him, like the teenager he was.  
  
"You'd better hope so!" The music started, and there he was, bopping around onstage with his hips swinging and his ponytail flying, belting out the lyrics to 'Dude Looks Like A Lady' like he'd known them all his life, in accent-free English.  
  
"Dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Cruised into a bar on the shore  
  
Her picture graced the grime on the door  
  
She a long lost love at first bite  
  
Baby maybe you're wrong but you know it's all right  
  
That's right  
  
Backstage we're having the time  
  
Of our lives until somebody say  
  
Forgive me if I seem out of line  
  
Then she whipped out her gun  
  
And tried to blow me away  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
So never judge a book by it's cover  
  
Or who you gonna love by your lover  
  
Love put me wise to her love in disguise  
  
She had the body of a Venus  
  
Lord imagine my surprise  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Baby let me follow you down  
  
Let me take a peek dear  
  
Baby let me follow you down  
  
Do me, do me, do me, all night  
  
Baby let me follow you down  
  
Turn the other cheek dear  
  
Baby let me follow you down  
  
Do me, do me, do me, sue me  
  
What a funky lady  
  
She like it like it like it like that  
  
He was a lady  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude, dude, dude, dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude, dude, dude, dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude, dude, dude, dude looks like a lady  
  
Dude, dude, dude, dude looks like a lady" He finished the song and hopped off the stage to much cheering and applause. Nuriko, of course, was blushing. Considering that, for once, the purple-haired cross-dresser was dressed as a guy, in tight black jeans, black combat boots (those were apparently very popular), and a sheer black poet shirt, nobody could misunderstand the target of the song. Of course, I just had to follow up that act.  
  
"Let's Go girls  
  
C'mon  
  
I'm going out tonight I'm feeling alright  
  
Gonna let it all hang out  
  
Wanna make some noise even raise my voice  
  
Yeah I wanna scream and shout  
  
No innovations make no conditions  
  
Get a little outta line  
  
I ain't gonna act a little precorrect  
  
I only wanna have a good time  
  
The best thing about being a woman  
  
Is the prerogative to have a little fun yeah  
  
Oh Oh Oh go totally crazy forget I'm a lady  
  
Men's shirts short skirts oh oh oh oh  
  
Really go wild yeah doing it in style  
  
Oh Oh Oh Get in the action feel the attraction  
  
Color my hair do what I dare Oh Oh Oh  
  
I wanna be free yeah feel the way I feel  
  
Man I feel like a woman  
  
The girls need a break tonight I'm gonna take a chance  
  
To get out on the town  
  
We don't need romance we only wanna dance  
  
we're gonna let our hair hang down  
  
The best thing about being a woman  
  
Is the prerogative to have a little fun yeah  
  
Oh Oh Oh go totally crazy forget I'm a lady  
  
Men's shirts short skirts oh oh oh oh  
  
Really go wild yeah doing it in style  
  
Oh Oh Oh Get in the action feel the attraction  
  
Color my hair do what I dare Oh Oh Oh  
  
I wanna be free yeah feel the way I feel  
  
Man I feel like a woman  
  
The best thing about being a woman  
  
Is the prerogative to have a little fun yeah  
  
Oh Oh Oh go totally crazy forget I'm a lady  
  
Men's shirts short skirts oh oh oh oh  
  
Really go wild yeah doing it in style  
  
Oh Oh Oh Get in the action feel the attraction  
  
Color my hair do what I dare Oh Oh Oh  
  
I wanna be free yeah feel the way I feel  
  
Man I feel like a woman  
  
I get totally crazy  
  
can you feel it come come come on baby  
  
Whooo whooo whooo  
  
Man I feel like a woman…" Much cheering ensued, but I knew I hadn't topped Hotohori, and I probably never would. We got back to the dorm at about 10:45 only to find that, in our absence, Mitsukake and Chiriko had decorated the main room for Christmas. Mitsukake had gone to bed, and Tama- neko was curled up in the cat-basket Tsubaki had bought for him and emitting tiny feline snores, which I found totally adorable, but Chiriko was standing expectantly under the mistletoe. Laughing, I bent down and kissed the chibi-genius on the cheek, at which he turned scarlet and scampered for his room, followed by indulgent chuckles. "Kawaii…" I straightened up, only to come literally face-to-face with Tasuki. "And just what are you doing?"  
  
"I thought we were supposed to kiss under the mistletoe," he purred. A slow grin suffused my features.  
  
"I ain't complainin'…" I answered, matching him purr for purr. Then I couldn't say any more, for the bandit's mouth was covering mine. The only coherent thought I could manage was something along the lines of 'Dang, he's good…', then he really got going and my brain melted, followed closely by the rest of me. I felt the pressure on my lips vanish and squirmed in protest, but the he was nipping at the back of my neck. He shifted his attentions to the tip of my right ear, nipping down the edge and suckling my earlobe before inserting his tongue into the center of my ear, making me shiver, then getting that little spot behind my ear and trailing kisses down my jawline before doing the same thing on the other side, then nibbling at my throat before returning to my mouth. By that time, I was panting, and he took advantage of my parted lips to slip his tongue between them and tangle it with mine, teasing and tasting and driving me wild. When he finally released me, I was short of breath and couldn't stand up very well. I flashed the fire-haired pyro what had to be the dorkiest grin in the world, stumbled into my bedroom, and fell asleep as soon as I'd fallen onto my bed, not even awake enough to do more than mutter "Doumo, Chichiri," when a red glow flashed around me, leaving my clubbing gear in the closet and my pajamas on me in their place. I woke the next morning with sunlight on my face and Po-chan shaking my shoulder. I grumbled, "Scheißt[9], Po-chan, I was up late last night, gadverdamme[10]! I need my beauty sleep!" and let her have it in the face with the pillow I wasn't currently using. She snorted.  
  
"Fine, then I won't tell you that you're wanted to explain the rules of that game you invented." Suddenly, I was wide awake.  
  
"Strip Truth or Dare Spin the Bottle? Hot DANG! I'm THERE!" I shooed Po- chan out of my room, hopped into underclothes, jeans, my new T-shirt, and my red-and-white kiddie sneakers, and shot into the main room, where everyone, even Chiriko, sat. "Oi, Chiriko. Aren't you a little young?"  
  
"I've seen worse," he commented. "I've got two older brothers and an older sister, none of whom are exactly modest, much to Kaasan and Tousan's dismay." I winced.  
  
"Older siblings can be bad." There was a hearty  
  
"AMEN!" from Tasuki, Hotohori, Nuriko, and, surprisingly, Soi. I blinked.  
  
"Soi, I didn't know you had siblings!" She sighed.  
  
"I have an older brother, and he's got the mental capacity of a three- year-old. I've caught him running about the house in his underthings with a pair of rocket-ship boxers on his head." At this, I hooted with laughter. "I didn't know you had older siblings."  
  
"I don't. I have an insane younger brother. As in, he worships sheep, runs around with his arms held to his chest like he thinks he's a squirrel, and says things like 'I am an ARMADILLO!', 'The goldfish in mayonnaise are taking over the world!' and 'Turkey, turkey-turkey-turkey-turkey…' all the time." Everyone stared. I tested out Tomo's birthday present to me by sweatdropping. "Yeah, I know…" Tasuki poked me in the ribs, and I whacked him upside the head. We grinned at each other, and kept doing it.  
  
Poke.  
  
WHACK!  
  
Poke.  
  
WHACK!  
  
Poke.  
  
WHACK!  
  
Poke.  
  
WHACK!  
  
Poke.  
  
WHACK!  
  
"What are you doing?" Nakago asked. I gave him a wide, fatuous grin.  
  
"We're poking and hitting."  
  
"I can see that, but… Okay. Hiko-chan, why are you hitting Tasuki?"  
  
"He's poking the 'hit Tasuki' button."  
  
"Okay… Tasuki, why are you poking Hiko-chan?"  
  
"She's hitting the 'poke Hiko-chan' button." The former Shogun of Kutou sighed and rolled his eyes, and Tasuki and I high-fived.  
  
"Now," I said, "as to the rules. For the most part, it's like Truth or Dare, except for the fact that, when both the asker and the victim agree, the asker gets kissed by the victim. It doesn't have to be a serious kiss, but it does have to be a kiss, and that when the victim can't answer the question or won't do the dare, they have to remove an article of clothing. Which article of clothing they remove is to be determined by the dare-er. The dares can't be too ecchi, but anything goes where 'truth' is concerned. The last one clothed wins. We only spin a bottle to determine who's the first asker." Nuriko grinned.  
  
"I think Hiko-chan should go first. She invented the game, after all." A chorus of agreements later, I was searching for a victim with a downright wolfish smile on my face.  
  
"Yaa, Hotohori. Truth or dare?" He thought for a moment.  
  
"Dare." I gave him an evil grin.  
  
"Okay, I dare you to… spend the rest of the game in your underwear! And no scooting into a room to get undressed, either. It has to be in front of everyone." Various expressions flittered across his face before he finally said,  
  
"All right." I turned to Nuriko, who I was sitting next to, and winked. He beamed, and then I looked towards the center of the circle and gasped. Hotohori was standing there, facing us, with an absolutely smoking look on his beautiful face. He'd already toed off his loafers, then, as I watched, he lifted one long, tan-slacks-encased leg to peel off his sock, doing the same with the other foot soon after, his movements slow and deliberately sensual. He undid the first button on his cream-colored, button-down shirt, hips rocking to a seductive, but unheard, beat, slowly moving, unobtrusively, so that everyone could get a peek, then turning back to the source of most of his attention, namely, us four otakus, Tomo (who had apparently forgotten all about a certain Kutou Shogun, for the moment, at least), and Nuriko. Of course, we'd clustered up, so we saw as he slid one smooth shoulder out of his by now three-buttons-open shirt, shooting a coy, yet hungry, look towards everyone's favorite cross-dressing bishounen, who was openly staring, his expression the very image of lust.  
  
'My Gods,' I thought, 'he's doing a *striptease*!' Then I simply couldn't think, I could only watch, unable to tear my eyes away even if I'd wanted to. He undid the last button on his shirt, untucking it and letting it fall to the ground before picking it up on his foot and tossing it out of the circle, and I let out a heartfelt groan at the sight of his perfect chest, all hard, trim muscle and flawless ivory skin, with broad shoulders and strong, graceful arms from countless hours of sword practice, toned pectorals with rosebud nipples, a really nice set of six-pack abs, and a firm stomach, all tapering down to a slim, supple waist. The phoenix on his bicep stood out strongly, a scarlet splash on alabaster and moonstone, as did the 'hoshi' symbol on the strong column of his throat. Then his long, graceful fingers unbuckled his belt, removing it, letting it drop, and pushing it out of the circle before artfully fumbling at the fly of his slacks, unbuttoning it, and undoing the zipper. He brought his hands up to where his ponytail was tied, undoing the tie, then, with an absolutely erotic little wriggle, let his pants drop to the ground, sliding past trim hips and slipping over toned thighs and calves, to be stepped out of and removed from the circle, as a curtain of smooth, shiny brown-gold hair fell around his gorgeous body, reaching to his waist, and I desperately wanted to run my fingers through that waterfall of silk and find out if it was as soft as it looked. Absently, some part of my mind, still unaffected by my raging hormones, noted he wore bikini briefs. Very tight, small bikini briefs. Almost immediately, my eyes flicked to that part of his body, and I almost drooled at the sight of his firm rear encased in very skimpy, close- fitting scarlet velvet, absently noting he'd turned to face the side. An appreciative perusal of his broad back later, he turned to face us again, and I noticed two things. One, his long legs were also strong and exceedingly graceful, and two… "Dear Gods," I whispered to Mouse, who sat on my other side, "he's enjoying this as much as we are!" And, indeed, there was an obvious bulge at the front of his briefs, tenting the velvet and wringing another groan from me as I licked my suddenly dry lips. He looked straight into my eyes then, unbelievable heat flickering behind his hazel-gold gaze, and I squirmed like a bird facing a snake, unable and unwilling to look away, completely mesmerized, my feelings a mix of terror, which I couldn't explain, and raging lust, which I could. It seemed to me then, and I will swear to this the rest of my life, that he could see right through me, could see into my very soul, and I couldn't look away for anything.  
  
"Well?" he purred. Bedroom voice, bedroom eyes, bedroom everything… Gods, he was seduction personified! I wanted him so badly right then that, if someone had offered me a choice between powerful elemental magic (my lifelong dream) and him, I would have dropped the magic in an instant just to be his, do whatever he wished and… gods. He smiled then, his warm smile and burning gaze promising delights beyond measure, and murmured, "There was supposed to be a kiss, wasn't there?" My brain was mush. I couldn't bring myself to speak, and so, just nodded dumbly. He gently lifted me to my feet and whispered, "Good," before his lips, so soft and full, came down onto mine in a searing kiss. I couldn't breathe, couldn't think, could only react to the incredible sensation. I sucked lightly on his lower lip, making him gasp, and reached up to tangle my fingers in his long, long hair. It was as soft as I'd thought. His arms were around my waist, holding me strongly, yet gently, and I thought giddily that if he hadn't been holding me up, I most assuredly would have fallen. Our tongues warred as my mouth opened to admit him, and my hands moved from his hair, pausing to feel the heat of the symbol burning on his neck, marking him as a Suzaku Seishi, before sliding up his chest, teasing at his pebbled nipples along the way and making him moan into my mouth, before resting on his shoulders, pulling him closer, feeling the bulge in his underwear nudge into me and elicit a soft cry from both of us, and deepening the kiss until I thought the world would have ended and I wouldn't have noticed.  
  
"Oohhhh…" I moaned, suckling on his invading tongue and causing another gasp and an imperceptible tightening of his arms around my waist. All too soon, the kiss had ended, and I was gently set back down on the floor, barely noticing that Chiriko had left. I looked up at the former Emperor of Konan, and gasped softly at the sight. His eyes were half-lidded with pleasure, his gaze was pure, carnal lust, his lips were just barely open and moist, slightly swollen from my assault, and a slight flush decorated his perfect cheekbones. In short, he looked like sex given human shape. "Daaaaamn," I muttered.  
  
"Hm?" I looked up at him, a lascivious smile on my face.  
  
"I wish to the Gods you were mine… or that I were yours… but it's obvious your heart's someplace else."  
  
"Maybe…" he teased gently, and then it was his turn to pick a victim. "Aa, Nuriko. Truth or Dare?"  
  
"Truth."  
  
"If you were a woman, and I asked you to be mine, now and forever, would you do it?" The cross-dresser smiled.  
  
"In a heartbeat, Hotohori-sama. I'd do it even as a man! Oh, and, since I got the okay, and the money, from my folks, we own the Chou cloth factories, did you know that? Anyway, in about two weeks, my body will match my soul." I turned to face my super-strong friend, grinning like a maniac.  
  
"Ometedou!" Hotohori smiled gently.  
  
"Then, when your body matches your soul, will you be mine? Because, when you died on Mount Black, I knew. If your body had only been as female as your soul was, you would have lived."  
  
"Why?" Nuriko asked.  
  
"Because you would have still been in the palace, as my bride. Daisuki da, Nuriko. Ima to eien ni.[11]" Nuriko threw himself into the swordsman's arms.  
  
"Hai, koibito. Zutto, zutto.[12]" A hearty cheer rose up. I realized that I was grinning like an idiot and I didn't really care.  
  
"I always knew you two would make a cute couple!" Mouse grinned and started to sing loudly and badly off-key, although I knew the 'off-key' part was on purpose, since she took choir class.  
  
"Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match,  
  
Find me a find, catch me a catch,  
  
Matchmaker, please, I'm longing to be  
  
The envy of all I see!  
  
Oh, Yente, let him be gentle,  
  
Oh, Yente, let him be kind!  
  
I don't mean to be temperamental,  
  
It's just that I'm terrified!  
  
Matchmaker, matchmaker, I'll bring the veil,  
  
You bring the groom, slender and pale,  
  
Matchmaker, please, I'm longing to be,  
  
The envy of all I see!  
  
Oh, Papa, make him a scholar,  
  
Oh, Mama, make him rich as a king,  
  
But me, well, I wouldn't holler  
  
If he were as handsome as anything!  
  
Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me no match,  
  
Find me no find, catch me no catch,  
  
Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me no match,  
  
Unless he's a matchless match!"  
  
"And he is!" Po-chan piped up. The rest of us laughed, and Hotohori blushed, but Nuriko, scowling like a thundercloud, scooped up a cushion and chucked it at the grinning blond. It hit her square in the face, knocking her onto her butt. She chucked the cushion back, laughing.  
  
"I deserved that, neechan. Don't mind me." Then, Hotohori held Nuriko's chin lightly, turning his head back so that they faced each other, murmured,  
  
"Daisuki, zutto[13]," and kissed him firmly, yet gently, on the lips. More hearty cheers and applause broke out, and I grabbed what Mouse referred to as our 'Communal Camera', a Polaroid with flash and timer, and snapped a picture.  
  
"This is going into the dorm photo album," I said, as soon as the shot had developed, and suited actions to words.  
  
"I think the game is pretty much over," Mouse announced.  
  
"Yeah," I grinned, "and Nuriko won." I sat down beside the cross- dresser. "'Ey Nuriko? This time around, did Kourin…" His eyes began to brim with unshed tears.  
  
"No… a car accident this time… worst case of déjà vu meets plain bad luck I've ever…" ~sniff~ "seen…" I hugged him around the shoulders.  
  
"Poor baby…" He glommed onto me like a limpet and began to wail. I just sat there, holding the bawling bishounen and letting him cry himself out. "Maa, maa, daijoubu des. Sore wa anata no sekinin de aru ja nai.[14]" When he'd finished, he fixed me with a watery, but suspicious, gaze.  
  
"Why did you dare Hotohori-sama to do that?" I grinned sheepishly.  
  
"I certainly didn't think he'd actually do it… ah well. It was actually a sort of, well, early Christmas gift to ya. I figured, that if he did, you'd get to see him in his underwear, and if he didn't, well, you could still see him shirtless, na?" He pulled a kitty-face, emitted a very female squeal, and glomped me.  
  
"ARIGATOU!" I squeaked like a stepped-on rubber ducky as all of the air was squished out of my lungs.  
  
"Nuriko… I can't breathe…" He took note of the fact that I was turning purple and released his hold with an apologetic grin.  
  
"Sumimasen ga… I sure do that a lot, don't I?"  
  
"What, squish me like a sat-on accordion?"  
  
"Yup." We then looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Seriously," he said, once he'd collected himself, "what do you think of Hotohori-sama?" I chose my words carefully before answering.  
  
"Well, he certainly is beautiful, and a sweet person, if vain, but he's really not my type. That's someone else." Nuriko blinked, then grinned like a ten-year-old girl at a slumber party.  
  
"Oooo, who?" I grinned, leaned in, and whispered,  
  
"Tasuki is my type." Nuriko's jaw dropped.  
  
"Tasuki? The poster boy for loud, rude, crude, and a pyromaniac to boot? He's your type?" I beamed.  
  
"Yapi! I'm loud, rude, crude, and pyromaniacal too!" He sweatdropped.  
  
"Oy vey." At this, my three fellow Americans' ears perked up. Mouse grinned.  
  
"So, if you've got Tasuki, can I go for Chichiri?" Po-chan piped up,  
  
"I want Mibu!" This was, obviously, Miboshi's 'use-name'. "He's changed, and now he's an okay guy! Besides, he's a Wufei look-alike, and I'm Sally Po's younger doppleganger!" Tsubaki chirped,  
  
"Then Amiboshi is all mine! He's a sweetie!" I grinned.  
  
"Okay, okay!"  
  
"YAY!" I thought of something and called all of what I'd dubbed the 'FY- gumi' together.  
  
"You're going to the Otakon with us, right?" A chorus of 'hai'-s sounded through the room. "Okay, then… Chichiri?"  
  
"Hai, no da."  
  
"Can you do something with our costumes?"  
  
"I've got everyone from our group covered, except for Mibu and Oukami, no da." I assumed that 'Oukami' was Ashitare. "I can call up the outfits we wore in our past lives, no da. Assuming the four of you already have costumes…" I grinned.  
  
"We do! Well, we know who we're going to be, but…"  
  
"Who, no da? I'm the only anime nut of us, so I know what the outfits will be, so I can make them, no da." With that pronouncements, the four of us crazy Americans tackle-glomped him, complete with kitty-faces and shoujo squeals. I took charge.  
  
"Okay. I'm being Duo Maxwell from Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing, the Endless Waltz version, that is, Mouse is being Koume from Aoikushimitama Blue Seed, Po-chan, of course, is being Sally Po, also from Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing, and Tsubaki is being Lina Inverse , from Slayers, the TRY season, to be exact. I think Mibu would, with a haircut, make a great Chang Wufei, not the Endless Waltz version, 'cause, man, is that uniform ever stupid, and I think Oukami would make, with a haircut, the perfect Carrot Glaces, of Bakuretsu Hunters. But, I have to warn you two: Mibu, if you call me, or any other girl at the kon, 'onna', except for effect, I will hurt you. Oukami, flirting is fine, but be really ecchi and I'll kick you in a 'soft spot', got it?" The two changed boys winced, then grinned. Mibu said,  
  
"Well, we did intend to get haircuts sooner or later…." I added,  
  
"Because of kon rules, all pointy and/or sharp weapons must… not be pointy and/or sharp. And Mouse's gun can't be real."  
  
"I can do that, no da."  
  
"YOSHA!" About five minutes later, Mibu and Oukami, with Mouse as navigator, left to find a hairdresser's, and Chichiri got to work on the costumes. Tsubaki and I both popped in our colored contact lenses, hers red and not really special, mine blue and prescription. Tasuki blinked.  
  
"Oi, Hiko-chan! I didn't know you wore contacts!"  
  
"Well, I do. My normal pair are clear, and I have two other pairs: these blue ones, and a yellow cat-eye pair I got for Halloween and didn't want to part with. They're all prescription, by the way." Meanwhile, Tsubaki had donned a black headband and gold ball earrings, and Po-chan had twisted her hair into the trademark Sally Po tornado-braids. I grinned, grabbed a black, covered rubber band, and began the laborious task of braiding my waist-length brown hair. After much struggling and more than a few curses in various languages ranging from German to Chinese, I gave up and asked for help. Surprisingly, I got help from Tasuki, who, to my shock, turned out to be quite a skilled hair-braider. The result, after I'd wrapped the elastic around the end, reached almost to my belt. I sighed. "Not exactly perfect, but… C'est la vie." Suddenly, a red glow appeared, I heard Chichiri muttering, and my braid snaked down to rump-length. I grinned. "Arigatou, Chichiri." He beamed and popped chibi.  
  
"Dou itashimashite, no da."  
  
"KAWAII!" He was promptly scooped up and snuggled.  
  
"Daa…" Half an hour later, the intrepid Hair Explorers returned. Mibu's hair now hung a little past his shoulders, pulled into a tight ponytail, and Oukami's was shorter, and spiky.  
  
"Is that natural, Oukami-kun?" He showed a sheepish grin.  
  
"Yeah. It's just this stupid thing my hair does when it gets cut short. Now you know why I keep it long…" I laughed. Meanwhile, Chichiri had finished the costumes for us four otakus, Mibu, and Oukami, so we went into our rooms to change. I absently noticed that Mouse now had a blue headband on, then I shut the door. Peeling off my shirt and grabbing a large roll of Ace bandage from my desk drawer, I set about the task of binding myself flat. Having wrapped the entire roll around my chest, I looked at my significantly flattened profile in the mirror. I looked like a boy. Well, a braided boy in a sports bra and an Ace bandage, but a boy nonetheless. Tsubaki would have less luck, being more impressively endowed than My Good Self, but then, she wasn't trying to simulate having a male chest, just a small one. I put on the red shirt, zipped it up, then donned and fastened the black jacket. I appraised my reflection and grinned. From the waist up, I looked just like Duo. I hopped out of my jeans and wriggled into the black pants, noticing they were just as snug as they should be, and zipped up the brown boots. I looked in the mirror, and Duo Maxwell, pilot of Gundam Deathscythe Hell, looked back.  
  
"SHINIGAMI LIVES!" I crowed, at the top of my lungs, and flung open the door and bounced out, glomming onto Chichiri, my 'Maxwell grin' firmly in place. "It's perfect!" I heard a growled,  
  
"Urusai, Maxwell…" and turned. Mibu was already in costume, complete with what I called a 'stick-up-the-butt' frown. I grinned.  
  
"Oi, Wu-man, I'm just showin' my appreciation…" He scowled.  
  
"My name is WUFEI!" Then the frown cracked, and he began to laugh. "How was that?"  
  
"That's the BEST Wufei impression I've ever heard!" Oukami was in costume, too, and as Mouse emerged, dressed in a pink jumpsuit and brown boots and carrying a large, but obviously plastic, gun, he attempted to glomp her, and was stiff-armed for his trouble, the air going out of his lungs with a 'whoosh'. Nuriko, dressed, like the rest of the FY-gumi, in the clothes of his past life, whooped. Po-chan, dressed in a Preventers uniform, came out next.  
  
"Tsubaki's still getting ready," she informed us. When Tsubaki came out, she even had the typical 'call me short and/or flat and you'll be facing the business end of a Fireball' Lina Inverse expression. I caught sight of Tomo and laughed out loud.  
  
"What's so funny?"  
  
"Don't… ahaha… kill me…. heehee… but, man… hoohoohoohoo… You look…. hahaha…. like you got… whoohoohoo… attacked by a paintbrush!" I was treated to a Glare O' Doom ™ for that one, but otherwise ignored. Tasuki, however, fell over laughing. I then remembered something and swore in Chinese. The ex-bandit blinked.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Change back, minna. I just remembered that, in about four hours, the four of us are going to help with the kids at the orphanage. Why do you have to change back? Because we're dragooning you into helping, that's why. But if you don't wanna help, just don't change back." Everybody changed back, much to my great and lasting surprise. Four hours later, we were on our way. On the way there, however, Hotohori and Nakago started arguing again. I stopped by a street vendor nearby and asked for two cups of water. When he asked why, I told him, jerking a thumb towards the yelling, insult- slinging, arm-flapping pair, "It's to soak a pair of squabbling idiots." He grinned.  
  
"You can have 'em for free, then. 'S just water, after all." I beamed.  
  
"Thanks!" I scooped up my water, walked over, and neatly inundated the argument. "Bakara. The war is over." They both glared at me, and were summarily ignored. When we got there, the lady who ran the place, noticing that Hotohori had his Deity Sword with him, expressed concern, never noticing the tessen, and I reassured her, saying, "The day Saihitei doesn't know how to use his sword…" I cut off, as I had to duck a wild swipe from Nuriko. "Not THAT one! Yeesh!" He stopped, and both of them blushed. "As I was saying, the day Saihitei mis-handles a blade is the day the moon turns blue and dragon-shaped." I was, of course, referring obliquely to when Yui, as the Seiryu no Miko, had sealed off the Suzaku Shichiseishi's powers with a wish, but, of course, only we knew that.  
  
"Okay… come on in…" When we reached the door to the playroom, it was shut, with little secretive giggles, quickly hushed, coming from behind it. I caught Tasuki' eye, winked, and jerked my head towards the door. He caught on quickly, and asked, loud enough to be heard behind the door,  
  
"Where are all the kids, Hiko-chan?" I grinned, noticing the 'hush, they're here, ssh, or they'll find us' noises emanating from said door.  
  
"I don't know, Genrou," I answered in the same fashion, careful to use Tasuki's 'use-name', as he called it, because we were in public, "maybe they're…" I was cut off as the door opened wide and I was tackle-glomped by maybe thirty, thirty-five kids ranging in age from four to twelve. I knew that there were some teenagers, but they weren't about to participate in 'Tackle Hiko-chan Day'. "Oh, helpy help, Genrou," I fake-wailed, "I'm being swarmed by a horde of miniature barbarians!" He grinned, flashing his fangs, scooped me up into his arms, twirled me around, set me upright on the floor, out of the crush of kids, and kissed me lightly. I blushed, and, seeing this, the entire horde released a simultaneous 'Oooooo' before chanting,  
  
"Hiko-chan and Genrou, sittin' in a tree~e, kay-eye-ess-ess-eye-enn-gee, first comes lo~ove, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage!" The six or seven teenagers appeared, shushing the littles and apologizing.  
  
"It's okay," I grinned. The youngest of the teenage set, a thirteen-year- old girl by the name of Sarah, tugged on my sleeve, asking to talk in private, and I agreed. Once we were away from the others, she asked,  
  
"Is that your boyfriend?" I grinned.  
  
"Mmhmm… He's kinda loud and rude, and he wants everyone to think he's really tough and macho, and he is, but underneath all that, he's just a big, fanged mush-ball with a potty-mouth." Sarah giggled.  
  
"He's very handsome…" I turned a sappy smile in the ex-bandit's direction.  
  
"Yes he is, and he knows it too, but he doesn't noise it about like Saihitei does. Don't get me wrong, Sai-kun's a sweet guy, he's just…"  
  
"Beautiful, knows it, and keeps forgetting that everybody else does too?" I chuckled and beeped her on the nose.  
  
"Bin-go."  
  
"Who's the one about my size, with the ponytail? He's cute."  
  
"His name's Doukun, and he's your age, wanna meet him?" She blushed and nodded, and I went over to Chiriko and tapped him on the shoulder. "'Ey, li'l guy, you've got a fan." He blushed. Just then, Sarah came over, in time to hear Tasuki say,  
  
"What the hey. Temper of demon, tact of brick. Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt, burned it."  
  
"Gen-chaaaaan!" I wailed, embarrassed, scooped up a cushion, and threw it at him. He dodged it easily, flashing another fanged grin and hugging me. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your point of view, a little boy I didn't know, maybe he was new, took that moment to attempt a solo tackle-glomp. He collided with Tasuki's lower back just as the fanged Seishi was stepping forward to hug me, catching him off-balance and sending him, and me as well, crashing to the, thankfully carpeted, floor. When I next had my bearings, I was flat on my back, pinned under Tasuki's lithe body, his face a bare inch from mine. I eeped and squirmed, as red as a tomato, before the fang-boy halted me by murmuring,  
  
"So eager to get out of a romantic situation?" If possible, I blushed harder, and then I noticed something pressing into my thigh. I froze, then grinned, whispering,  
  
"Why Gen-chan, is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" He squawked, blushed and rolled off of me. I giggled, then stood up and asked, "Who tackled Genrou?" The little guy, I still didn't know his name, raised his hand. He looked to be about three years old. I scooped him up into a giant bear-hug, set him back on his feet, patted him on the head, and said, "Thanks, little dude." He grinned. Soon after that, Hotohori called for our attention.  
  
"I'm going to perform for all of you," Mouse raised an eyebrow at this, and was promptly hit by Nuriko, "but I need a few things." He pointed to the little guy who had glomped Tasuki. Said 'little dude', a charming little imp with short, fluffy, light brown hair and huge sea-green eyes (cameo!), cocked his head like a confused puppy. "What's your name?"  
  
"My name's Sandy, mister."  
  
"I'm Saihitei, pleased to meet you. Sandy, are there any dandelions around here?"  
  
"There's two in our indoor garden thingy and we can't get rid of 'em."  
  
"Thank you. Uproot them and bring them back here, will you? Thanks," he added as Sandy scooted off. Hotohori pointed to Sarah next. "Sarah? Could you get an apple and a couple of mushrooms from the kitchen? Thank you." Sarah, blushing slightly, left to find said items. "Are there any stilts you won't mind losing?" The director lady said,  
  
"Yes, we've broken three. They're all the same length, surprisingly."  
  
"Thank you. Could you go get them, please?" She did so, amazingly enough, returning with three four-foot-high lengths of wood. I surmised that a few of the older kids were acrobats. At the same time, Sandy shot back in, bearing two uprooted dandelions, and Sarah returned, a bit more sedately, with an apple and two mushrooms. Hotohori wasn't finished, though. After inquiring if there was a music room, he sent another kid to fetch a hand-drum of some sort, then sent yet another to get a bucket. After this curious assembly of objects was complete, he requested that we form a circle, one row only. Of course, this made for quite a large circle. He then grabbed Nuriko and the 'Boshi Twins. Nuriko was abruptly seated in mock-lotus position with the drum between his thighs, and the 'Boshi Twins were both standing, with a mushroom on each sand-haired head and a dandelion, sheared of its roots by the deity sword, in each right hand. Amazingly, not one of them seemed surprised by this, although Suboshi and Amiboshi looked apprehensive. The stilts ended up in a crossbar position, two upright with the third balancing on top of them, and the bucket was turned upside-down on the floor and the apple placed on it. Then, Nuriko started drumming. Bum baddabadda bum baddabadda bum baddabadda bum… The drums echoed my heartbeat… Suddenly, Hotohori unsheathed the deity sword and began to swing it in slow, controlled movements, growing faster as the speed of the drumbeats increased… I could indeed see why Hotohori was counted the best swordsman of his time. The fabulous blade glittered in the overhead lights, describing arcs, crescents, figure-eights, and even shapes like flowers! Hotohori released a sharp shout and leapt over to the stilts, knocking the top one into the air with the flat of the blade, shearing the other two in half with one sideways swipe, then sweeping upwards to slice the top one in two before it hit the ground. Another yell and a bound, and he was standing before the 'Boshi Twins, a look of intense concentration on his face. The marvelous blade flashed down once, twice! Not a hair on either sandy head was harmed, but the mushrooms fell in two pieces, and the sword was flickering around the hands that held the dandelions, beheading both flowers and flicking the detached blooms up to land, one each, between the mushroom halves. Both twins looked about to faint. An animal roar and a flying backflip brought him to the bucket with the apple on it. The deity sword struck six times, slicing the apple into twelve neat sections before flicking the sections into the laps of several of the entranced kids, although never once did I hear the blade strike the bucket. All at once, Hotohori was in the center of the circle again, and he threw the sword up and caught it in his other hand as it fell, then threw it up again, higher this time, and stepped back. The drum stopped with one last, loud beat just as the sword hit the floor point first, zzzip-thunk, and Hotohori stepped forward, rested both hands on the hilt, and bowed. The entire room went wild, cheering and yelling like there was no tomorrow. As soon as the kids had recovered, we were immediately herded outside to 'play inna snow!'. I giggled.  
  
"I think the snow froze Taka's brain…" The reborn Suzaku Shichiseishi had apparently decided that snow made Miaka even cuter, and was making flowery, mushy love speeches, which surprised me to no end. Tasuki and I exchanged glances, grinned, and went into action, knocking the infatuated Seishi over, sitting on him, and shoving a lump of snow down his pants (Tasuki did that) to cool off his passions. Then, of course, we were forced to run for our very lives, laughing like maniacs, as an infuriated 'Obake- chan' chased us, intent on pure, cold-blooded mayhem. After a while, though, he got bored of chasing us, much to my deep relief. He did make a point of mashing snow into Tasuki's face later, however. We played for several hours before going back inside for hot cocoa and peanut-butter crackers, and then the twenty of us took our leave, promising to come back ASAP. Almost as soon as we'd gotten back, Tasuki grabbed a bag of marshmallows from the kitchenette, snagged several marshmallow-roasting sticks (Author's note: they DO exist, peeps!) from the pantry, and lit a fire in the fireplace with the help of a well-placed 'Lekka Shinen'. Taking the pyromaniac Seishi's unspoken advice, we grabbed roasting sticks (Chichiri had to make several more), snagged marshmallows, and settled down to roast them. There was peace in the dorm for some time, the companionable silence broken only by the crackling of the fire and the occasional faint 'splut' of someone's marshmallow falling off the stick (usually Tasuki's, in which case, the 'splut' was always followed up by a faint curse) and being incinerated. Suddenly, Mouse looked at the calendar and let out a surprisingly fangirl-ish[15] squeal.  
  
"Ohmigods! Tonight is Otaku Night at the Campus Club!" Yes, that existed. Although an official anime club did not, in fact, exist, there was an unspoken agreement that, on the sixth of every month, the Campus Club was otaku territory. Guests that were fairly knowledgeable of anime (or bore at least a passing resemblance to an anime character, I noticed with a grin) were allowed, fortunately. None of the songs played then were from America, and karaoke was not only allowed, but encouraged. Suddenly, I had a genius idea.  
  
"Minna! I've just had a great idea! The FY-gumi," by now the nickname had been accepted, "can go in costume! And Oukami," I addressed the boy currently nicknamed 'Koppii Carrot', "if you act like a hentai I am gonna find some way to beat the shit outta ya, capeesh?" He nodded, and he and the rest of the FY-gumi got into their costumes and left with us. At the club, the moment we entered, there was an enormous outpouring of 'Dude(s)! Cool costumes!'. Of course, the FY-gumi took it in stride. (Although Hotohori did boast until Mouse threatened to dump a beer on his head…) Oukami poked the DJ in the shoulder and whispered something. Said DJ grinned, and the first bars of Carrot Glaces' image song, 'Youshanaku DENJARASU!', reverberated through the club at the acceptable level, namely, rafter-vibrating. Oukami flashed his fangs (the fact that he had them surprised me but little… I mean, he is a werewolf…), hopped up on stage, grabbed the mike, and started singing, strutting back and forth and hamming it up, a huge grin on his face.  
  
"Hai tenshon! Shooganai ore ha tsuyoi  
  
Douse kedamono henshin suru nara  
  
Bishoujo maryokuni yararetai ne  
  
Ore no seigishin sakasani furyaa  
  
Kakushi kirenai sukebe kokoro ga poroporo zuri ochiru  
  
Iku to kya iku! Youshanai batoru  
  
Denjarasu! Shigeki sutto chou yabaize  
  
Pawaa to senshiteibu tonari awase  
  
Waru ha yurusazu ecchi ha O.K  
  
Dare ga tomereru bousou kikansha  
  
Kimi no feromon ni shoujiki badi ha buchii-buchii shooto suru  
  
Yaru to kya yaru! Nigasenai taagetto  
  
Hai tenshon! Shooganai onna nya yowai  
  
Sonjo sokora no otokojanai  
  
Jentoru yajyuuto agamera reteru hiitoo tereru yo na  
  
Iku to kya iku! Youshanai batoru  
  
Denjarasu! shigeki sutto chou yabaize!" The werewolf in ecchi's clothing pumped a fist in the air and passed the mike to Mibu. The tune to 'Shinjitsu wo Tsukamitore', one of Wufei's image songs, started up, and the former 'carrion-soul' began to sing.  
  
"Nani wo shinji  
  
Nani wo motomete hito wa iru  
  
Dare mo ga wakarazu ni  
  
Tachitsukusu yoru  
  
Ima wa yume mo nai to  
  
Jibun wo azakeru no wa  
  
Ikiba wo nakushita makeinu sa  
  
Kokoro no naka de moesakaru mono  
  
Shinjitsu naraba ore wa iku  
  
Chi no hate made kizutsuite mo tatakau dake sa  
  
Shinjiru nara motomeru nara tsukamitoru dake  
  
Toikakete mo toikakete mo kuzurenai nara  
  
Sore ga seigi da  
  
Tashika ni kanjite 'ru  
  
Kyou wo ikinuite iku  
  
Ashita wo kataru hodo  
  
Namecha inai sa  
  
Yuuki da to ka ai wo  
  
Kotoba de tsutaeru nara  
  
Akirame ni mo iiwake dekiru  
  
Kagayaku mono wa kono mune no uchi  
  
Kokoro no yaiba furi-su  
  
Tamerai koso osore koso ga an'ya wo tsukuru  
  
Ippyo inochi-tori no kiwadoi shoubu  
  
Ore no naka ni senshi no chi ga nagareru kagiri  
  
Ore wa chiranai  
  
Chi no hate made kizutsuite mo tatakau dake sa  
  
Shinjiru nara Motomeru nara tsukamitoru dake  
  
Toikakete mo toikakete mo kuzurenai nara  
  
Sore ga seigi da…" The applause was frantic. I went up to the DJ, a tall Asian guy I didn't know, and requested 'Eyes On Me'. He smiled, and I hopped up on stage.  
  
"This is for the bishounen in the front row… gomen, Gen-chan, I always wanted to say that…" polite laughter in the crowd, "a song near and dear to my heart." Here the DJ announced the song,  
  
"Eyes On Me." The plaintive piano melody began to drift through the club, and I closed my eyes and sang.  
  
"Whenever sang my songs  
  
On the stage, on my own  
  
Whenever said my words  
  
Wishing they would be heard  
  
I saw you smiling at me  
  
Was it real or just my fantasy?  
  
You'd always be there in the corner  
  
Of this tiny little bar  
  
My last night here for you  
  
Same old songs, just once more  
  
My last night here with you?  
  
Maybe yes, maybe no  
  
I kind of liked it your way  
  
How you shyly placed your eyes on me  
  
Did you ever know  
  
That I had mine on you?  
  
Darling, so there you are  
  
With that look on your face  
  
As if you're never hurt  
  
As if you're never down  
  
Shall I be the one for you  
  
Who pinches you softly but sure?  
  
If frown is shown then  
  
I will know that you are no dreamer  
  
So let me come to you  
  
Close as I want to be  
  
Close enough for me  
  
To feel your heart beating fast  
  
And stay there as I whisper  
  
How I love your peaceful eyes on me  
  
Did you ever know  
  
That I had mine on you?  
  
Darling, so share with me  
  
Your love if you have enough  
  
Your tears if you're holding back  
  
Or pain if that's what it is  
  
How can I let you know  
  
I'm more than the dress and the voice?  
  
Just reach me out then  
  
You will know that you're not dreaming  
  
Darling, so there you are  
  
With that look on your face  
  
As if you're never hurt  
  
As if you're never down  
  
Shall I be the one for you  
  
Who pinches you softly but sure?  
  
If frown is shown then I will know  
  
That you are no dreamer…" The applause was calmer, but just as heartfelt, and I hopped down again, to pass the mike to Yui. The tune to 'Best Friend' started up, and the quiet blonde put her heart into the lyrics.  
  
"Kanashii kurai aoi sora no itami kanjiteiru woo  
  
Kokoro no soko de ima mo kirakira suru kakeratachi ga kageri o uchikeshi ni kuru  
  
Chanto gohan tebeteru ka na? Koketeru ka na?  
  
Baka mitai… konna shinpai mou shinakute ii no ni  
  
Dakedo…  
  
Best Friend dare ni mo makenai daisuki koko ni aru  
  
Dear Friend doushite darou!? Ii koto dake ukabu  
  
Dakara…  
  
Best Friend hadaka no kokoro to happy dakishimete  
  
Dear Friend ima sugu soko ni hashitte ikitai… kedo  
  
Mou sukoshi mattete  
  
Sora o yuuyuu kumo ga nagarete iku anna fuu ni futari mo heiwa datta ne  
  
Juken benkyou yori tsurai shiren da yo ne  
  
Taisetsu na hito kizutsukete - mune ni ana ga aita yo  
  
Dakedo…  
  
Best Friend dare ni mo makenai yuujou ikiteta ne  
  
Dear Friend shirazu shirazu ni atarimae ni natteta  
  
Dakara…  
  
Best Friend hontou no kimochi maybe wakatteru  
  
Dear Friend hoka no hito ni wa butsukerarenai… hodo  
  
Shinjiatteru no  
  
Dakedo…  
  
Best Friend dare ni mo makenai daisuki koko ni aru  
  
Dear Friend doushite darou!? Ii koto dake ukabu  
  
Dakara…  
  
Best Friend hadaka no kokoro to happy dakishimete  
  
Dear Friend ima sugu soko ni hashitte ikitai… kedo  
  
Mou sukoshi mattete…" More applause, and a rather tearful apology on Miaka's part, before the genki Suzaku no Miko had the mike passed on to her. 'Promise Love' started up, and she sang.  
  
"Totemo aitakute  
  
Anata no heya made  
  
Isoide sugu ni kite mita kedo  
  
Ima wa hairenai  
  
Watashi wa okubyou ni naru  
  
Moto no sekai ni modoru nante  
  
Nagarete yuku toki wa hayai kedo  
  
Kawaranai egao yakusoku shiyou  
  
Tsuyoku, tsuyoku dakishimetai  
  
Itsu mo yasashii me ni  
  
Watashi dake utsushite yo  
  
Zutto, zutto anata ga suki  
  
Munasawagi kizuite mo  
  
Mou hanasanai  
  
Itsu ka konna hi ga kuru yo to  
  
Dare ka ni iware  
  
Sukoshi fuan ni natta keredo  
  
Futari no shiawase futari de  
  
Mitsukeru tabi ni  
  
Shinpai nante wasurete ita  
  
Okashii wa ne… Namida dete kichau  
  
Konna ni mo anata itoshiku omou  
  
Tsuyoku, tsuyoku dakishimete ne  
  
Motto tanoshii koto  
  
Watashi ni mo oshiete yo  
  
Zutto, zutto anata ga suki  
  
Kono saki mo soba ni ite  
  
Mou hanarenai  
  
Tsuyoku, tsuyoku dakishimetai  
  
Itsu mo yasashii me ni  
  
Watashi dake utsushite yo!" Cheers, 'Banzai'-s, hugs, and high-fives were handed around, and the mike went to Tamahome, and, not three seconds after, the familiar, hyperball notes of 'Ai to iu Na no Tatakai Ni' were vibrating the rafters.  
  
"Now moeteiru kokoro ga  
  
Honoo o agete  
  
Cry inochi ga sakebu yo  
  
Ikiteiru ore wa  
  
And Now kikoeru arashi mo  
  
Koeteku kodou  
  
Fly kono te ni todoku yo  
  
Kiseki mo ima wa  
  
Tatta hitori de kurashite kita yo  
  
Yokubou dake ga chikara no machi ni  
  
Massugu ashita mitsumeru hitomi  
  
Sono kagayaki ni utareru hi made  
  
(Fuuchuuhyou mujikuushou) dakishimeteta yo  
  
(Fuuchuuhyou mujikuushou) subete wasurete  
  
Sono shunkan tatakai wa  
  
Hajimatteta no sa  
  
Now moeteiru kokoro ga  
  
Honoo o agete  
  
Cry inochi ga sakebu yo  
  
Ikiteiru ore wa  
  
Chichi no kotoba o omoidashiteta  
  
Subete nakushita kodoku na hibi mo  
  
Otoko no mune wa itooshi hito no  
  
Tate ni naru mono sore dake de ii  
  
(Fuuchuuhyou mujikuushou) mamorasete kure  
  
(Fuuchuuhyou mujikuushou) namida o fuite  
  
Ai to iu na no tatakai ni  
  
Hashiri dasasete  
  
And Now kikoeru arashi mo  
  
Koeteku kodou  
  
Fly kono te ni todoku yo  
  
Kiseki mo ima wa  
  
Now moeteiru kokoro ga  
  
Honoo o agete  
  
Cry inochi ga sakebu yo  
  
Ikiteiru ore wa  
  
And Now kikoeru arashi mo  
  
Koeteku kodou  
  
Fly kono te ni todoku yo  
  
Kiseki mo ima wa  
  
Now moeteiru kokoro ga  
  
Honoo o agete  
  
Cry inochi ga sakebu yo  
  
Ikiteiru ore wa!" I took some time to rescue Tomo from a particularly obstreperous girl, who was obviously in a 'lust at first sight' situation, with a well-placed,  
  
"Gomen, he's gay…", and when I'd turned back, the familiar, and eternally sniffle-inspiring, opening bars of 'Legacy' were playing, and Hotohori had the mike.  
  
"Urei no toki ga kite kibou wo motomeru tabi  
  
Kotoba no tamashii wa tami no kokoro de kagayaku  
  
Tsuki ga yama no se ni shizumi hi ga noboru sukoshi mae  
  
Utsukushiku sabishii toki ga nagareru  
  
Mamoritai kuni ga ari sasaetai hito ga iru  
  
Inochi no hi sakae yo! Towa ni tsunage yo  
  
Yume miru yorokobi wo asu e no chikara ni shite  
  
Ikite 'ru yorokobi wo tsutaete nokosu no ga ai  
  
Mizukara ga maku tane kara donna hana ga saku no ka  
  
Minori aru sekai wo tsukurikizuke yo  
  
Umidasu tanoshimi wo futatabi omoidashite  
  
Hagukumu tanoshimi wo tsutaete nokosu no ga ai  
  
Aa… Donna kanashimi mo tsurasa mo  
  
Anata no mae kara keshisaretakatta  
  
Yume miru yorokobi wo asu e no chikara ni shite  
  
Ikite 'ru yorokobi wo tsutaete nokosu no ga ai  
  
Umidasu tanoshimi wo futatabi omoidashite  
  
Hagukumu tanoshimi wo tsutaete nokosu no ga ai…" I was sniffling, but I managed to wipe it away before anyone saw. Then, Tomo abruptly appeared behind me.  
  
"Yeep! Don't do that!"  
  
"Gomen nasai. I just wanted to thank you for rescuing me from her…"  
  
"No problem. You saved me from Terrier, with Genrou's help, of course…"  
  
"Mochiron.[16]"  
  
"It's the least I could do, Chuin-kun."  
  
"Aa. Nuriko is onstage, you might want to watch."  
  
"Doumo."  
  
"Any time." Nuriko was indeed on stage, and I recognized the silly tune of 'Otome no Ranman'.  
  
"Ah shanari-shanari machi o ikeba  
  
Um donogata no me hitorijime  
  
Ah nante itsumo tsumi na watashi  
  
Um aware heart kanashibari  
  
Honki ni nattemo gomen asobase  
  
Tada no otoko nara ototoi oide  
  
Urei obita koe suzushii hitomi  
  
Watashi no kokoro wa ano kata no mono yo  
  
Run-Run sakasemasho patto koi ranman  
  
Iki ni adeyaka ni otome mankai ni  
  
Run-Run-Run misemasho iji to kokoro iki  
  
Misete ano kata o get itashimasho  
  
Ah nagekawashii komusumetachi  
  
Um wakasa dake no namakemono  
  
Ah onna no ue agura kaite  
  
Um ima ni naki o miru koto yo  
  
Tensei no bibou tayumanu doryoku  
  
Migaki ni migaku wa issei ichidai  
  
Ai no tame naraba ichinichi senri  
  
No o koe yama koe michi o fumikoete  
  
Run-Run sasagemasho koyoi yume ryouran  
  
Midare midasarete otome iza yowan  
  
Run-Run-Run kirei desho hana no kono inochi  
  
Saite chiru toki nya migoto chirimasho  
  
Yakouju, topaz hisui ni menou ruby, amethyst  
  
Motto nayamashiku motto utsukushiku  
  
Run-Run sakasemasho patto koi ranman  
  
Iro mo toridori ni nioi kanbashiku  
  
Run-Run-Run misemasho dokyou kono aikyou  
  
Misete ano kata o get itashimasho!" Loads of applause later, the mike was passed on to Chichiri, and, almost immediately, the familiar beginning notes of 'Mizu Kagami' began to play.  
  
"Nemuri awase hitotsu machigaeba  
  
itoshi sasae toge ni natte shimau  
  
Mune no sokoni shizumeta itami  
  
ga himei oage iki o fuki kaeshita  
  
"Ano toki wa naze?" tto jibun o semetemitari  
  
"Demo doushite?" tto aite ni koekaketai...  
  
Nagare teyuku mizuni utsuru  
  
omoide no tanden  
  
Anna omoi kurikaesanai  
  
Sou kokoro ni chikau  
  
Nagare teyuku mizuni utsuru  
  
kanashimi ga arukara  
  
Konno chikara de konno inochi de  
  
omae o mamoritai  
  
Nakushita no wa shinji au kimochi  
  
demo ima nara ai wa makenai daro  
  
Nasa kenakutemo ima wa itaranakutemo  
  
Sore dakara koso kagai ni tasukeaeru  
  
Nagare teyuku mizuni utsuru  
  
omoide no tanden  
  
Anna omoi kurikaesanai  
  
Sou kokoro ni chikau  
  
Nagare teyuku mizuni utsuru  
  
kanashimi ga arukara  
  
Kono chikara de kono inochi de  
  
omae o mamoritai  
  
Mizu-kagami de kokoro no kage o mireba  
  
Sore wa ai ga nanda mou hitotsu no kao  
  
Taisetsu ni shitai subete no tameni mo  
  
mou umi tamikarameo somuketekunai…" The applause, quite literally, rattled the rafters, and Chichiri blushed, surprised and more than a little pleased, and released the microphone. Tasuki grabbed it, poked the DJ, and raced up to the stage. Nuriko sighed.  
  
"Rude as always…" The slow, soft lyrics to 'Setsunakutemo… Zutto' filled the club, and even those at the bar stopped to listen.  
  
"Moetsukita you ni shizumu yuuhi sae hitori sa  
  
Daichi ni mo, unabara ni mo dakareru koto naku  
  
Fukai kokoro no soko de nemuraseteiru no ni  
  
Fui o tsuku akane iro no setsunai jounetsu  
  
Kimi no namida miru tabi tamaranaku natte  
  
Ushiro kara omoikiri dakishimetaku naru  
  
Kowareru hodo suki sa donna kotoba mo tarinai  
  
Kesshite koe ni shinai itoshisa mo aru n da  
  
Umareochita dake de wa otoko ni wa narenai  
  
Hontou no tsuyosa wa kitto ai kara hajimaru  
  
Kimi no namida no saki ni egao ga aru nara  
  
Tanomoshii yatsu no mama mimamotteiyou  
  
Kowareru hodo suki sa donna kotoba mo tarinai  
  
Kanawanai koi naraba shiawase o negau dake sa  
  
Yuuhi ga mata shizumu jounetsu o daita mama  
  
Hitoshirezu nemuri tsuku setsunakutemo… zutto…" Then, he flashed his fangs in a grin and said, "That was for the bishoujo in the back… gomen, Hiko- chan, but you asked for it! I heard, and responded!" Almost nobody knew what to make of this chibi-speech, but they clapped anyway, while I turned, or so I was informed by Mouse later, a shade of crimson previously unknown to ningenkind. Meanwhile, the mike was offered first to Mitsukake, who demurred on the account that he couldn't sing, and Chiriko, who was too shy, which was a pity, I thought, because 'Akai Iitsuitae' was kawaii, then Nakago and Tomo both passed it up because they couldn't sing, so it came to Soi. The song she chose was 'Pride of Ice', which I really liked.  
  
"Nani ga hoshii Sore wo ubatte yaru kara  
  
Nani ga daiji Subete kowashite yaru kara  
  
Doko e yuku no Michi wo fusaide yaru kara  
  
Nani wo suru no Muda to muimi Sore kara  
  
Ai to iu no Motare atte iru koto wo  
  
Tomo to yobu no Kizu wo nadeau aite wo  
  
Nagekanai no Midare kitte 'ru sekai wo  
  
Nani ga mitai Uso, uragiri Sore kara  
  
Aa Seiryu no kumo  
  
Sora, nuritsukusu toki  
  
Mou asu wa nai  
  
Kako mo nai ima sae mo  
  
Baby, baby Sono mama horobeba ii  
  
Mujaki to iu tsumi wo seotte  
  
Baby, baby Naraku ni shizunda nara  
  
Shimiru hazu yo Koori-tachi no puraido  
  
Kiku to ii wa Semete watashi no sasayaki  
  
Daku to ii wa Mune ni maboroshi to shirazu  
  
You to ii wa Amai itsuwari no aji ni  
  
Kanjinai wa Kurushimi sae Kore kara  
  
Nani ga hoshii Sore wo ubatte yaru kara  
  
Nani ga daiji Subete kowashite yaru kara  
  
Doko e yuku no Michi wo fusaide yaru kara  
  
Nani wo shite mo Muda to muimi Saigo wa  
  
Aa Seiryu no koe  
  
Kaze, yuregaseru toki  
  
Mou teki de wa naku  
  
Ano kata no tenka dake  
  
Baby, baby Kono mama shinde mo ii  
  
Gisei to iu yakume wo oete  
  
Baby, baby Na mo naku kiete mo ii  
  
Shimobe toshite umarete kita mono-tachi minna  
  
Baby, baby Wakari wa shinai, keshite  
  
Aku ni tsukaetsukusu yorokobi  
  
Baby, baby Nikumi uramareru hodo  
  
Takamaru no yo Koori-tachi no puraido…" Surprisingly, both of the 'Boshi Twins declined to sing, so I grabbed Tsubaki and Mouse, poked the DJ, and dragged them onstage to sing 'Cruel Angel's Thesis'.  
  
"Zankoku na tenshi no you ni  
  
Shounen yo shinwa ni nare  
  
Aoi kaze ga ima  
  
Mune no doa wo tataite mo  
  
Watashi dake wo tada mitsumete  
  
Hohoenderu anata  
  
Sotto fureru mono  
  
Motomeru koto ni muchuu de  
  
Unmei sae mada shiranai  
  
Itaikena hitomi  
  
Dakedo itsuka kizuku deshou  
  
Sono senaka ni wa  
  
Haruka mirai mezasu tameno  
  
Hanega ga arukoto  
  
Zankoku na tenshi no te-ze  
  
Madobe kara yagate tobitatsu  
  
Hotobashiru atsui patosu de  
  
Omoide wo uragiru nara  
  
Kono sora wo daite kagayaku  
  
Shounen yo shinwa ni nare  
  
Zutto nemutteru  
  
Watashi no ai no yurikago  
  
Anata dake ga yume no shisha ni  
  
Yobareru asa ga kuru  
  
Hosoi kubisuji wo  
  
Tsukiakari ga utsushiteru  
  
Sekaijuu no toki wo tomete  
  
Tojikometai kedo  
  
Moshimo futari aeta koto ni  
  
Imi ga aru nara  
  
Watashi wa sou  
  
Jiyuu wo shiru tame no baiburu  
  
Zankoku na tenshi no te-ze  
  
Kanashimi ga soshite hajimaru  
  
Dakishimeta inochi no katachi  
  
Sono yume ni mezameta toki  
  
Dare yori mo hikari wo hanatsu  
  
Shounen yo shinwa ni nare  
  
Hito wa ai wo tsumugi nagara  
  
Rekishi wo tsukuru  
  
Megami nante narenai mama  
  
Watashi wa ikiru  
  
Zankoku na tenshi no te-ze  
  
Madobe kara yagate tobitatsu  
  
Hotobashiru atsui patosu de  
  
Omoide wo uragiru nara  
  
Kono sora wo daite kagayaku  
  
Shounen yo shinwa ni nare!" As soon as the applause had faded, however, I noticed that it was really late!  
  
"Scheißt, minna, we gotta make like the fat man's pants and split!" That, as soon as we'd gathered everyone, was quickly done. On the way back to the dorm, Chiriko zonked out, falling asleep almost instantly, and would have collapsed, but Nuriko scooped him up and carried him the rest of the way. The next several days were spent pre-buying our tickets, getting the costumes perfect, and squealing, well, us girls were, anyhoo. Tsubaki had gotten all the bugs out of our video, and was currently absorbed in memorizing the names and chants, if applicable, of every spell Lina Inverse had ever used. Mibu was practicing his justice speeches, which was vastly amusing, and getting cushions chucked at him when particularly heinous phrasings appeared, which was even more amusing, Oukami was memorizing quotes, and Tasuki and I were cuddled by the fireplace, playing with each other's hair. The day of the kon dawned bright and sunny. Almost immediately, Hotohori inquired as to whether the four of us Americans had any spending money. We all grinned and held up clips with anywhere from $400 (me) to $800 (Po-chan). "We've been saving for years," I explained. He nodded sagely but refrained from commenting. We got into the kon, finding seats just as the opening ceremony began. After about an hour, the ceremony ended, and the group of us wandered about the main hall, seeing and being seen. All of a sudden, a group of the best Slayers cosplayers I had ever seen appeared. "Whoa! There's a Zelgadis, a Gourry, an Amelia, a Filia, a Xelloss, a Valgaav, heck, they've even got a Sylphiel and a Koppii Rezo! All they lack is a Lina!" As if the group had heard my comment, the Gourry flashed us a huge, puppy-dog grin, raced over, and scooped Tsubaki up into a giant bear hug.  
  
"Lina!" he whooped. "I thought you weren't coming!" Tsubaki played it cool and stayed in character.  
  
"I decided to come, okay?" He grinned.  
  
"That's great!" I suddenly suffered a flash of intuition. These were the real thing! Our two groups decided to join up, heading to the karaoke first. Of course, Tsubaki grabbed the mike and started to sing 'Give A Reason'.  
  
"Me magurushii jikan no mure ga  
  
hashiri nukeru machi wa sabanna  
  
kawaru ga waru shuuru na nyuusu  
  
asu ni nareba, dare mo wasureteru  
  
ikiteiru ima, ikiteiru  
  
sonna naka de nani ka o motome  
  
mogaku you ni nukedasu you ni  
  
kono chikara o tameshite mitakute  
  
kitto doko ka ni "kotae" aru  
  
umarete kita kotae ga  
  
hito wa mina, sore o motome  
  
yarusenai nogasenai  
  
yume ni mukau no  
  
kizutsuku koto wa kowakunai  
  
dakedo keshite tsuyokunai  
  
tada, nani mo shinai mama de  
  
kuyandari wa shitakunai  
  
Here we go! go! hashiri tsudzukeru  
  
dare ni mo tomerare wa shinai  
  
mirai no jibun e to  
  
Give a reason for life todoketai  
  
hakari shirenai ookina yamiga  
  
oto o tatete mukatte kitte mo  
  
asa ga kureba dareka ga ireba  
  
kokoro ni aru zetsubou wakeseru  
  
motto tsuyoku imeeji shite  
  
hohoenderu jibun o  
  
shinjiteru omoi, sore ga  
  
nani yori mo dare yori mo  
  
yumeni chikadzuku  
  
gooru ni mo tare tarishinai  
  
tadoe, tadoritsuitatte  
  
atarashii yume ga kitto  
  
watashi no se naka osu kara  
  
Here we go! go! hashiri tsudzukeru  
  
darenimo tomerare wa shinai  
  
mirai no jibun e to  
  
Give a reason for life todoketai  
  
kitto doko ka ni "kotae" aru  
  
umarete kita kotae ga  
  
hito wa mina, sore o motome  
  
yarusenai nogasenai  
  
yume ni mukau no  
  
kizutsuku koto wa kowakunai  
  
dakedo keshite tsuyokunai  
  
tada, nani mo shinai mama de  
  
kuyandari wa shitakunai  
  
Here we go! go! hashiri tsudzukeru  
  
dare ni mo tomerare wa shinai  
  
mirai no jibun e to  
  
Give a reason for life todoketai…" There was much applause. Quite a lot of us got up to do our thing, and then, it was time for pictures! I pestered Po-chan into taking a picture with me and Xelloss, which she did.  
  
'I wonder if Mazoku show up on film…?' I decided it wasn't anything huge, and dragged everyone to the dealer's room. Once in, I spotted a model and whooped. "Shway! Deathscythe Hell! I've been looking for this sucker for years! I've got Deathscythe and Deathscythe Hell Custom, but no Deathscythe Hell!" I immediately bought it, and was glomped. I managed to pry the fangirl off by telling her I was a girl, but it was a close call. Tasuki wasn't any help, having doubled over with laughter the moment the girl had glommed onto me. I borrowed Chichiri's staff and whacked the chortling bandit on the head with it. He yelped, and I glared at him. "Fat lotta help you were, dandelion-head." I left him fizzing and sputtering like a road flare and went in search of a decent Rurouni Kenshin wallscroll. We bounced around the convention center all day, stopping sometimes to watch anime, sometimes to take pictures, (I think I STILL have the one I took with me and a Duo from the TV series… with Mouse's scribble 'A Duo of Duos!' on the back in black pen…) sometimes to catch a panel or a snack, and once to get lunch. I couldn't believe how much our new friends ate! I introduced Xelloss to Boost, and then, of course, the rest of our huge-arse group had to deal with two hideously hyper, on both Boost and pudding Pocky, Trickster Priests, him and My Good Self. The sugar high lasted us through the dance, and then we all crashed in our hotel rooms, since none of us really wanted to go back to campus, and slept. In the morning, as soon as we were all vertical and mobile, if not literally 'awake', and were ready, we went to get some miso, and then, to the panel on mecha. As soon as that was over, I dragged us all to the showing room to catch the several-episode run of 'Mahou Tsukai Tai!' that was playing. After that, we went back to the dealers' room, where I caught sight of a Heero and glomped him, as well as acquiring a nice 'Bastard!' doujinshi, all the 'Blue Seed' tapes I could afford, and a NERV T-shirt. We all ran around until the cosplay, which, of course, we had to watch, and then, it was time for the music videos! We watched them for several hours, and then, when they were through, we went back to the hotel rooms and flopped, 'tuckered out', as Mom used to say. The next day, we heard a familiar entrance speech.  
  
"Knock-knock! Who is it? It's Genrou's best buddy coming to look for him, may I come in? Oh, ureshii! Come right in, please. Ari-ga-TOU, Kouji des." Tasuki started hopping up and down and waving like a maniac.  
  
"KOUJI!" The bandit himself appeared out of the crowd, grinning fit to crack his jaw, and the two of them linked arms and whirled around like a pair of maniacs.  
  
"Yaaaa, hisashi burianke! I haven't seen you in years! Ogenki desu ka? Genki des!" I cracked up laughing, dug out my camera, and took a picture. Predictably, Kouji joined us, running around with our huge group until the closing ceremonies. The cosplay award went to the Deathscythe costume, at which point I began cheering like the braided maniac I was. Then, it was time for the announcer to present the prize for best music video. The announcer opened the envelope.  
  
"And the winner of the music video contest is…………. 'They're Too Sexy', by the College Crazies!" That, of course, was us, and we went nuts, cheering and whooping and hugging each other like mad, then went to the podium to claim our prize. That evening, after reminiscing about the kon, which I really was sorry was over, I decided to find the English lyrics to 'Setsunakutemo…. Zutto'. I searched the lyrics pages until I found it. What I found, however, was totally unexpected, and I read the words out loud through a throat gone suddenly dry.  
  
"Even the setting sun that sinks like it was caught on fire is alone  
  
Unable to embrace the earth or the seas  
  
Though sleeping deep down at the bottom of my heart  
  
A red painful passion takes me by surprise  
  
Whenever I see your tears I can't bear it  
  
It makes me want to embrace you tightly from behind  
  
I love you so much it breaks me no words are enough  
  
I also have love that I can't express  
  
Can't become a man by only having been born  
  
True strength definitely begins from love  
  
If there's a smile beyond your tears  
  
I'll watch over you like the dependable guy I am  
  
I love you so much it breaks me no words are enough  
  
If it's a love that won't be granted then I'll only wish for your happiness  
  
The setting sun sinks again as it embraced its passion  
  
It reaches its hidden sleep even though it's painful...always…" I found that my eyes were watering. Well, jeez, I thought, he really does love me. I raced out if my room and pounded on Tasuki's door. He was still up and dressed, and I said, "I just found out what the words of the song you sang meant in English, and I hope to the Gods you meant it." The next thing I knew, I was being held in a warm, yet powerful, embrace, my head pressed against Tasuki's chest, so close I could hear his heart beat.  
  
"Of course I do! I don't lie. Ai shiteiru, zutto." I began to sniffle, then to cry. "Aw, shit," he muttered, the words rumbling in his chest. "Why're you sad?" I gave him a watery smile.  
  
"I'm not sad, just surprised. I don't really deserve you, and, if I do, I dunno what I did in my past life to deserve a man like you, but whatever it was, it musta been good. Ai shiteiru yo, zutto." He leaned down, I leaned up, and we kissed, softly, gently, then broke apart for a second. As soon as our eyes met, we flung ourselves back together with twin sobs, not of sadness, but of a profound, heart-shaking relief. We clung to each other like two survivors of a shipwreck, our lips seeking, meeting, coming together in a deep, searching kiss, as though each of us was determined to reassure ourselves that the other was real, tears soaking wood-brown and flame-red lashes, kissing as though we'd been parted for years, nay, centuries, uttering little, shaky sobs of relief and joy every time we came up for air. 'Finally, finally,' I thought, 'someone who loves me and whom I love in return!' When we finally broke the kiss, Tasuki looked at me, breathing hard, a perplexed look on his tanned face.  
  
"What's this emotion I have? Why do I feel as though we've been apart for centuries?"  
  
"Because you have." That deep, rich voice, with an almost fire-like crackle underlying it and the sense of a harsh bird's scream echoing through our heads, did not, could not, belong to one of our dorm-mates! I looked up at Tasuki, and his aureate eyes were wide with shock. I turned, to see Suzaku, Red Phoenix god of the Southern country of Konan, standing in the common room! All around, otakus, Seishi, and Mikos began to pop their heads out of their doors, wide-eyed in shock.  
  
"Yes, indeed, brother," a new voice, cooler, with an underlying sense of crashing waves and the echo of a dragon's cry, added. "They are soul-mates. There are more here, are they not? I know that Yui and Suboshi are, as are Soi and Nakago, Amiboshi and Tsubaki, and Mibu and Po-chan, but I cannot sense your warriors and priestess, brother."  
  
"There are. Tamahome and Miaka are, as are Mouse and Chichiri, Hotohori and Nuriko, and, of course, Tasuki and Hiko-chan."  
  
"Oh, you all have one," Seiryu, the Blue Dragon god of the Eastern country of Kutou, said, correctly interpreting the devastated look on Tomo's unpainted face, "it's just that the soul-mates of the remaining four, namely, Tomo, Oukami, Mitsukake, and Chiriko, are not here. Fear not, you will all find your soul-mates soon enough." With that cryptic pronouncement, the two Beast Gods vanished, leaving twenty startled people and an even more startled brown-and-white kitten standing in the common room with their feet rooted to the floor by what they had just witnessed. The next week went by in a blur, until it was time for Nuriko's operation. He left one day, with our hopes behind him, and retuned, three days later, female, with a young man and an older couple behind her.  
  
"Tadaima, minna!" There was a massed shout of,  
  
"Okaeri! Ometedou![17]", and then Nuriko continued.  
  
"This is my family! They came over when they heard it was time! These are my parents," we all bowed as Nuriko indicated the older couple, "and this is my oniichan, Kenichi." She jerked a thumb at the tall boy, who grinned.  
  
"Pleased to meet you." Nuriko's parents added,  
  
"Yes, it's very good to meet all of you." Nuriko introduced us.  
  
"Tousan, Kaasan, Oniichan, these are Taka, Miaka, Saihitei, Houjun, Genrou, Jyu'an, Doukun, Yui, Ayuru, Kaen, Chuin, Kotoku, Shunkaku, Mibu, Oukami, Po-chan, Mouse, Tsubaki, and Hiko-chan." I grinned and bowed to the trio.  
  
"You speak very good English!" The Chou couple demurred, saying it was poor, but Kenichi grinned.  
  
"It should be! Do you know how long I had to study? And just to meet my kid sister's room-mates! I'm even beginning to dream in English!" I chuckled.  
  
"Kawaisou… It could be worse, though…"  
  
"How?"  
  
"You could be dreaming in German……."  
  
"I don't speak German."  
  
"I know!" He laughed.  
  
"I like you!" Then he slung an arm around my shoulders flirtatiously. "Can I keep you?" he purred. I hissed like a steam explosion and dodged out from under his arm.  
  
"NO." That enraged, feral growl was not my voice! Kenichi looked up to meet a burning golden Glare O' Doom™ from Tasuki.  
  
"Oh, okay. I'm sorry…… just reflex. I'll stop after this, I swear…." Tasuki's voice was a furious rumble that seemed more wolfen than human, and he took a threatening step forwards.  
  
"You'd better. She's MINE." Kenichi eeped and dodged backwards, only to be elbowed in the gut by his mortified sister. All the air whooshed out of his lungs, and he squeaked and folded like a stomped accordion, crumpling to the floor. Nuriko bowed, a look of pain on her face.  
  
"Gomen nasai, minna-san. Kenichi is a huge flirt, it seems he does it automatically, as he said, and I'm sorry I didn't warn you."  
  
"Daijoubu," was the overwhelming reply. By that time, Kenichi was on his feet.  
  
"At least my reflexes are getting a workout, what with having to deal with a violent, short-tempered, strong kid sister……" Nuriko whapped him.  
  
"I am NOT a kid sister! I'm only two years younger than you!" I grinned.  
  
"Gomen, Nuriko, I assume that's your name now," She nodded her agreement. "but two years younger is a kid sibling." She sighed. Kenichi, meanwhile, had encountered Hotohori.  
  
"So, you the boyfriend?" Hotohori nodded. Kenichi rested his hands on the swordsman's shoulders, and, with a solemn expression more appropriate for speaking to a departing suicide bomber than one's sister's boyfriend, said, "I wish you luck." Nuriko screeched,  
  
"Oniicha~an!", caught her brother in a headlock, and proceeded to yell in rapid, furious Japanese, none of which I could catch, right into his ear. He flinched and squirmed away. When it was time to go, the Chou family, minus their new 'daughter', left politely. I was surprised they'd taken it so well, but then, they were pretty cool people, even if their oldest WAS such a bakayarou…… It was now the nineteenth of December. I corralled Tasuki and told him,  
  
"Tomorrow, we are going Christmas shopping." He shrugged.  
  
"Okay, but I sure hope you have a car, because FireStarter is in the shop." I cocked my head like a confused puppy and blinked several times.  
  
"What's FireStarter?" He grinned.  
  
"My motorcycle." My jaw hit the floor and bounced.  
  
"You have a motorcycle?! Sugoooooooiiiiiiiiiiii! What kind is it?" He shrugged again.  
  
"Near as I can tell, because I sorta built it myself, with help from Kouji, mochiron,"  
  
"Mochiron."  
  
"It's a Harlaha."  
  
"A wha…?"  
  
"A Harlaha. A bastard mixture of a Harley and a Yamaha. It's my baby."  
  
"Ah. Well, I've got Sven….."  
  
"Sven?"  
  
"My parents' old Saab. I love the heck outta it." He grinned, and the next morning…….  
  
"Okay, let's sally forth!  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Gomen, always wanted to say that." I giggled. "Let's go find a mall!" This, we did. I've always loved malls at Christmastime. The decorations may be chintzy, but they sure bring back memories……. I grinned as I passed the 'Santa's Grotto'.  
  
"Ah, sweet memories…." He chuckled.  
  
"What, do ya wanna go in and sit on Santa's lap?" he teased. I sallied right back with,  
  
"I'd rather sit on yours….." He blushed. The first place I went was to this special shop I knew. There, I picked up a 'Here and Queer' T-shirt for Tomo, knowing quite well he was proud to be gay, and a 'Wolf Inside' shirt for Oukami. I found one of those 'My Other Car Is A…" bumper stickers, bought one, borrowed a pen from the clerk, and wrote 'Kasa' in the space, then found a rearview mirror ornament that looked like a phoenix, and bought it as well, both of them for Chichiri's car. I found a truly cool yo- yo for Suboshi, who actually had made it a hobby, although anyone who called the Ryuuseisui a yo-yo was dead. Tasuki snickered.  
  
"Yo-yo?" I grinned.  
  
"Yo, yo!" He started to laugh. In the bookstore, I found an Arthur Conan Doyle anthology for Yui, who loved mystery books, and a book of the best American flute solos for Amiboshi. A jewelry store provided a pair of golden hair combs for Nuriko, decorated with roses made from crystal and fire opal. Next stop was this cutlery/ knives/ swords/ anything with a blade store I loved the crap out of. There, I acquired a set of five black- bladed assassin's throwing daggers for Soi, who had made knife-throwing a hobby, much to the extreme apprehension of Tasuki, a beautiful katana with a red-and-gold crackle-pattern hilt and saya[18] and a gold cord for Hotohori, a set of fifteen throwing stars for Tamahome, and a long, two- handed Western broadsword, with a dragon pattern on the hilt, for Nakago. Next, there was a book on Zen for Mibu, a book on healing herbs grown in the Bay area for Mitsukake, and a collection of sci-fi stories for Chiriko. Miaka got a mushy romance novel (which, I had ben told by a 'little obake', as Tasuki put it, she loved), and then Tasuki and I split off to find presents for each other, with the agreement to make our ways back to Sven when we were done. I returned to the sword store and bought Tasuki a dagger I'd seen, the hilt jeweled and wrapped with black leather to provide a grip, and the dragon-claw-like blade excruciatingly sharp and, incongruously, engraved with the kanji for 'Ai wa Itsumo'[19], or, in English, 'Love is Forever'. When I got to Sven, Tasuki was already there. We loaded our bags into the back seat and headed for Japantown. We ate at this Japanese restaurant I knew of, where the food floated by you on little boats and you had to grab it with your chopsticks. Of course, we both had way too much fun with our lunch, even though I learned a few new curse words when Tasuki dropped a bit of eel in the water… Then, it was off to the Kinokuniya building, the bookstore of the same name that resided within, and the Mikado Music store (Mikado Music is the BEST damned store for anime music, IMO, in San Francisco. Go there if you're ever in the area.), for presents for my roomies. Tsubaki got the latest translated Inu- Yasha manga, Po-chan got a truly awesome Gundam Wing wallscroll, and Mouse's gift was the latest CD from the incredible seiyuu/JPop group Weiß. On the way home, we stopped at a pet store and I bought a little catnip mouse for Tama-neko. On Christmas Eve Day, all of us received invitations to Kouji's family's Christmas party. The invitation said, much to my delight, that as long as it was decent, and formal, what we wore wasn't a problem. I did a happy-schoolgirl jump. "Finally, I have an excuse to wear my kimono! Nuriko-neechan, could you help me with the obi? I dunno how to tie it…" She grinned.  
  
"Sure!" As soon as I was dressed, it was time to go. The party was a hit, and there wasn't quite enough sake to get The Three Terrors, namely, me, Kouji, and Tasuki, drunk, but we did manage slightly tipsy, enough so that when the singing started, Tasuki went off key on purpose until I thwapped him, and then he sang right, and I grinned sheepishly and said,  
  
"Sorry 'bout that, but I had to hit the fang-boy. He was stuck, you see…" As I expected, it went over pretty well, got a few laughs, and a slightly muzzy glare from Tasuki, but nothing serious… Anyway, neither one of us was drunk enough to be really embarrassing to the eighteen sober folks left in our group, just drunk enough to let our inhibitions go. Nuriko grabbed Hotohori and pointed up. They were standing under the mistletoe. The two Seishi locked lips, and everyone at the party cheered. I suddenly noticed that, for the first time since the party began, Tasuki wasn't at my side. I scanned the room and saw him whispering in the corner with Chichiri. I turned back, then Tasuki was there, gripping me by the shoulders, whirling me around, and kissing me deeply. I didn't mind, that is, until I felt something small slide down my throat and set up a tingle that reached from my mid-hips to right below my breasts. That caused me to tear away and whisper, quietly but fiercely, in true Tasuki fashion, "Whattafuckwazzat?" He flashed a lustful, rakish grin.  
  
"It's not dangerous," he whispered, his voice a suggestive rumble. My eyes shot wide, and I drew my hand back, ready to slap him, with a hiss.  
  
"Ecchi! That was an aphrodisiac, wasn't it?" He shook his head.  
  
"It's birth-control. It's for the present I'm going to give you when we get back: My first time." I blushed.  
  
"Then I guess it will be a present exchange, because I'm a virgin too." His eyes grew huge.  
  
"I… gomen!" he stammered. "If that's the case… I can't do this. Your first time should be with a better man than me!" I shut him up by resting a finger on his lips.  
  
"I don't think such a man exists," I whispered, and kissed him tenderly. He wrapped his arms around me and held me close.  
  
"Then I'll make this a night you'll never forget," he promised me.  
  
"I'm game," I purred. On the way home, we sat in the back seat of the same car, entwining our fingers and sharing loving glances. Nuriko noticed this and gushed to Tsubaki, who was driving,  
  
"Oh, aren't they kawaii?"  
  
"You sound like my mother," Tasuki grumbled, "and you're younger than I am. Put a cork in it, will ya?" Tsubaki and I giggled as Nuriko pouted. When we got home, Tasuki motioned me into his room. As soon as the door closed, he whispered something and a red glow lined the walls. "Portable kekkai," he said, in response to my unspoken question. "Keeps non-roomies from noticing, and keeps roomies out and noise in." I grinned.  
  
"Got it from Chichiri?"  
  
"Hai." I sat back and waited. He noticed this, and asked what I was waiting for, and I blushed and told him,  
  
"Aren't you supposed to start undressing?"  
  
"Not this time…" I blinked.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Well, it's your Christmas present," Tasuki said, a sexy, fanged grin on his handsome face and a distinctly lustful look in his golden eyes, "so you're gonna unwrap it." I grinned.  
  
"But I'm giving myself to you, as well, so you gotta unwrap your gift too, ne?" I noticed that the kekkai also lit the room gently, but obviously. "Huh? Usually the lights go out when this sorta thing happens, well, in the fanfics I've read…"  
  
"Fanfics?" I blushed.  
  
"I read more explicit yaoi and het fanfiction than is strictly good for me, so, even though I'm a total virgin, heck, I've never even experienced orgasm, I still know how to please a man…" He grinned.  
  
"I'm leavin' the kekkai lighted up because I want to see how much pleasure I'm giving you," he purred, his amber eyes half-shut and burning with barely-controlled lust. I kissed him softly, almost chastely, but he tangled his fingers in my up-twisted hair and pulled me close to him, a deep, searing kiss that left me breathless and tangling my fingers in his silky mop of fiery hair, pulling him closer, our hearts beating faster and faster, yet still in unison. I pulled back and grinned.  
  
"I still don't know how Nuriko managed to convince you to wear a tie…" He looked down.  
  
"She didn't so much convince me as force me," he muttered. "Reminds me of my sisters…" I laughed, undid the knot, and let the strip of silk flutter to the floor. We'd both removed our shoes and socks by this point, and Tasuki retaliated by undoing my obi and letting it drop. He slid a probing hand inside my kimono… and met up with my under-layer, a white, long-sleeved shirt and black leggings. "Shimatta!"  
  
"Wha~at?" I asked. "It was that or freeze!" With that, I un-buckled his belt and untucked his dress shirt. "Now we're even…" He stopped undressing me and let me undress him, pushing off his suit jacket and undoing each button on his shirt, stopping as I undid each button to kiss the tanned flesh I'd revealed, wringing a moan from those soft lips.  
  
"Unnhh… Hiko-chan…" As I undid the last button, I dipped my tongue into his navel, then pushed the shirt off of his arms, letting it drop, then stepped back and gasped at the sight revealed. Up until then, the only attractive man I'd ever seen in real life with his shirt off had been Hotohori. Oh, was Tasuki ever different! Where Hotohori was slim, cultured, refined, and elegant almost to the point of being elfin, Tasuki was lithe, feral, and powerfully built, radiating a ferocious, magnificent strength. In the faintly red glow of the kekkai, the bandit's fiery hair, tanned skin, and amber eyes made him appear to be what fire would look like, given a male human form; fierce, elemental, beautiful, totally wild, and utterly breathtaking. He was built much harder and more obviously than Hotohori was, with toned pecs, decorated with coffee-colored nipples, like squares of steel slipped under his skin, and six-pack everything. As a friend of mine from junior high would say, this boy got body! "Like what you see?" he asked, a teasing note in his seductive voice and lustful fire in his golden eyes. I remembered to breathe.  
  
"Hells, yes!" He chuckled.  
  
"Now, you have to unwrap the rest, but you can't use your hands." I grinned, having read this in more than one fic, and went down on my hands and knees before him, pressing a kiss to his navel before biting the fabric surrounding the button on his slacks and using a combination of that and adroit, but rather painful, twists of my head to unbutton it. The zipper, by contrast, was no problem at all, needing only a nudge before 'interior pressure' made it fly open. I gripped the hem in my teeth and sank to the floor, then releasing it so he could step out, backing up as I did so. The first thing that met my eyes was the prodigious bulge in his underwear, and the second was the nature of said underwear.  
  
"Silk boxers?" He blushed, but said nothing, and I pressed back up against him and placed my open mouth on his silk-constrained erection.  
  
"AHHNH! Hiko-ch… ah! Nnh!" I stepped back and said, sexily,  
  
"Now it's your turn." He pushed the kimono off of my shoulders, letting it drop, then pulled the hashi out of my hair, letting it tumble to my knees. He ran his fingers through it, making me sigh with pleasure. Having tackled the challenge of my outer layer, he untucked my shirt and pushed it up and off, caressing my hardening nipples through my bra as he did so. "Mmm… Tasuki…" Having done that, he next tucked his fingers in the waistband of my leggings and dragging them to the floor. I stepped back and out of them, then he scooped me up and deposited me on the double bed. I smiled at him. "When we're like this, call me by my real name, awright?"  
  
"I don't know your real name."  
  
"It's Arkeyla." He grinned.  
  
"Nice name." He then undid my bra, it being a front-snap, and lowered his head to my chest, kissing between my breasts and making me squirm, before taking one of my nipples into his hot, wet mouth and suckling it, his fangs scraping deliciously over the sensitized flesh. My head rolled back on my neck, and I held his fiery head to my chest, panting and moaning and wishing for him never to cease this sweet torment.  
  
"TASUKI! Ohh, koibito, keep doing that… that feels…. ohhhh… unbelievable…….." He released my nipple, pausing only to blow gently on it, making me shiver, before switching his attentions to the other one, all the while using his fingers to caress the one he'd abandoned. "Haah…. haah…. haah… oh, yes, lover, that's so good…" He released me then, pulling me up with him to remove my unfastened bra, then setting me gently back down. "You're good, koi," I whispered, "are you sure you're a virgin?" He blushed.  
  
"I've read stuff too, all right?"  
  
"All right." I then brought my head to his chest, taking one of his pebbled nipples into my mouth and repeating what he'd done to me, and he released a soft cry. I switched, using the same method, and he growled deep in his chest. When I released him, he stood up, faced me, and practically tore off his boxers. My jaw dropped a little. I'd never seen a naked man before, and especially not a naked, aroused man! He was huge! I grinned. "Good grief, who ordered the foot-long hot dog?" He blushed slightly, then pulled me to him, literally yanked off my panties, and inserted a thumb into my most secret place, finding the pearl of my pleasure after a little fumbling and caressing it. I let out a little scream of pleasure. "I never thought that having someone else do this would feel so… ohhhh…… koi……… mate of my heart, more!" The feel of the calluses on his thumb scraping over my most sensitive spot was sheer ecstasy! Both of us fully naked now, we tumbled onto the bed. He ended up on his back with me draped over him, and I took advantage of that fact to wrap my hand around his erection and pump slowly up… and down… it follows, of course, that it was Tasuki's turn to scream.  
  
"AAAHHHHH! Arkeyla, yes!" I released his manhood, then engulfed him in my mouth, taking him in until I gagged and pleasuring with my hand what my mouth couldn't hold. He let out an incoherent yell, his hips thrusting upwards, nearly choking me, and his hands fisting in the sheets. I worked him until I could sense that he was trembling on the edge, then released him, flopped onto my back with knees spread wide, and gently pushed his head between my legs to return the favor. This he did, and made the most of it, his tongue wrapping around my pearl, causing me to cry out and fist my hands in the sheets, then darting into my slit, wringing a screech of pleasure from me. He found my pearl again and suckled it, forcing out a full-throated howl from my throat. When he ceased his attentions and sat up, we were both breathing hard and sweating. "Thank Suzaku for kekkais, na?"  
  
"Tasuki, with all due respect, shut the Hell up and fuck me."  
  
"Are you sure? It's your first time, it'll hurt…?"  
  
"Rrrr…. I don't care! I want you inside me now!" He grinned,  
  
"All right…" then he was between my legs, his face a bare inch from mine, and his weight was crushing me as he prepared to meld our bodies into one. He propped himself up on his forearms, whispered "Ai shiteiru…" and thrust into me in a single, smooth stroke. I yowled in pain from the tearing of my maidenhood, and Tasuki was right there with me, kissing away the tears that leaked from under my squeezed-shut lashes and whispering incoherent reassurances in my ears. After about a minute, the pain faded and the pleasure inside me began to build to levels I had never felt before. I gave a little wriggle, to remind him of what he was supposed to be doing, then he began to thrust, slowly at first, then harder and faster, and I completely lost my mind. He began to pant. "Ah, koibito," he moaned, "you're so tight… it's wonderful….. nnnhhh…….. oooh……." As his strokes speeded even further and we found our rhythm, I felt the pleasure coiling inside me like a giant snake of flame, tighter and tighter… I opened my eyes, and the sight that greeted me made me gasp. Tasuki, his face radiant with purest ecstasy, was above me, and he was rapidly losing control. Flames, his natural element, were all around us, licking over everything yet causing no damage whatsoever.  
  
Spirit-flames, I thought, and then his pelvis brushed against my pearl and set a million fireworks off inside my body. I felt the coils of the pleasure-snake inside my abdomen growing tighter… tighter… tighter… then all of a sudden, something inside me exploded and I came in a surge of the most incredible pleasure I had ever felt. I knew I was screaming. Tasuki's body stiffened above me, and he surged forward once, twice, before spilling all that he was inside of me with an animal roar. Then, too exhausted to stay supported, he collapsed, rolling sideways and taking me with him so as not to crush me. Sweaty, sated, exhausted, and utterly happy, we snuggled close and fell asleep, held in the arms of love. Sometime next morning, we were both awakened by pounding on the door and Oukami's familiar voice.  
  
"Oi, are you in…." the door opened…. "there………. Oh, shit…." I screeched and chucked my pillow at the werewolf.  
  
"Get OUT of here, you PERVERT! We're not WEARING anything!" He closed the door rapidly, and the pillow thudded against it. I sat up and stretched voluptuously, getting an appreciative rumble for my troubles, then cursed. "Aaagh…….. I don't have anything to wear!" Tasuki was already up, rummaging in his dresser, and, incidentally, giving me quite a nice booty shot. He tossed a plain white tank top and a pair of faded plaid boxer shorts at me, and I grabbed them out of the air and put them on. The top was loose, but, thankfully, the boxers had an elastic waist, and they stayed up. "Doumo."  
  
"Any time." He himself donned a pair of red boxers, and we left his room. Of course, all eyes were on us. Tamahome looked frankly startled.  
  
"Um, Hiko-chan? Why are you wearing Tasuki's boxer shorts and tank top?"  
  
"Because I didn't have anything clean, and besides, I didn't sleep in anything anyway." Tamahome looked frozen. Apparently, he couldn't get his brain around the three facts that: 1) Tasuki and I had left his room, together. 2) We both had goofy 'I got laid last night' expressions on our faces. 3) I was wearing Tasuki's underwear. He stood there, unmoving, for a second longer before flopping down on a beanbag chair near the tree with a sigh.  
  
"I really don't want to know." Just to antagonize him, I purred, licked my lips, stretched just… so… and murmured,  
  
"Yummmm……" He made a noise like a mouse being trodden on, with the typical 'deer in the headlights' expression on his wide-eyed face, and blood began to seep out of his nose. Suboshi laughed so hard he doubled up with mirth and fell flat on his face, which, in turn, cracked Tamahome up, snapping him out of his daze. The door to Mouse's room opened, and she yanked me inside, where Po-chan, Tsubaki, Soi, and Nuriko were sitting.  
  
"You're telling us everything." I grinned.  
  
"Whaddaya wanna know?" Mouse giggled.  
  
"Was it good?"  
  
"Oh, HELLS yes!" Tsubaki asked,  
  
"What's he like?" I purred.  
  
"He's so gentle, but, when he loses it… he's beautiful then, and, well… yummmm…" I let out a low, practiced moan. The girls giggled, and Tsubaki clarified,  
  
"No, physically."  
  
"He's got one hell of a body, if that's what you mean…"  
  
"No…" Tsubaki made an ambiguous gesture towards her pelvic region, "there…" I grinned rakishly, much as Tasuki had the night before.  
  
"Twelve inches, as far as I can tell… I was a bit too, well, occupied to measure," there was a resounding 'Oooo' and a smattering of giggles, "just thick enough to fill me without hurting," more giggles, and quite a few blushes, came from my erstwhile audience, "and perfectly proportioned." Po- chan giggled.  
  
"In short, hung. Is he good with his hands? The only non-virgin here, before last night, that is, is Soi, and she's not the telling type."  
  
"He's fairly good, but where he really shines is in using his mouth! His fangs feel so good on my skin when he… well… you get the idea, and he has this thing he does with his tongue…" I demonstrated, and my fellow chatters fell over giggling. "Fabulous…"  
  
"Anything else?" I giggled.  
  
"Lessee… he growls when he's losing it," Soi grinned.  
  
"I wonder if he purrs when you pet him?" I took a mock-swipe at the Seiryu Seishi.  
  
"Ecchi! Anyhoo, when he was losing control totally last night, there were flames in the room, not hurting us or burning anything, just… there, he roars when he comes, and he suckles!" Mouse blinked.  
  
"As in…" she gestured towards her chest.  
  
"There, yes, but down there," I did the same thing as Tsubaki had done to indicate my pelvic region, "as well, and it feels… ohhh…" A surge of blushing and giggling followed that comment. Mouse fake-scowled.  
  
"You realize that now I have to hate you…"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"You got an eager, skilled man! Chichiri-chama," I giggled at the nickname, "is probably too shy!" I grinned.  
  
"He provided both the kekkai and the birth-control whatever-the-hells-it- was for our adventures, so I wouldn't be too sure about that…" Her eyes went wide and she giggled like a shoujo heroine. Just then, Miaka called,  
  
"Chiriko is up and about! Purezento!" I did a shoujo squeal.  
  
"Purezento!" We bounced out of the room. Everyone set about opening their presents. Po-chan opened my present to her, pulled out the wallscroll, and screeched with delight.  
  
"YATTA!" Tsubaki and Mouse had similar reactions to the manga and the CD, and when Miaka opened my present to her, she immediately let out a deafening whoop.  
  
"How did you know?!" I chuckled.  
  
"A little obake told me." I ducked a haphazard swipe from the martial artist, and then grinned when he opened the box containing the throwing stars. Hotohori grinned broadly when he opened the katana, and Nuriko squealed over the combs.  
  
"They're so pretty! Thank you!" Chichiri opened his, and cracked up.  
  
"Do you have a thing for gag gifts, or is it just me, no da?" I giggled.  
  
"Humor as coping mechanism."  
  
"Daa… all right, no da…" Tasuki opened the dagger, whooped, and buckled it to his belt. Mitsukake and Chiriko both dove into their books almost immediately, and Yui yelled out loud when she opened hers.  
  
"How did you know I liked mystery books?" I did a kitty-face.  
  
"Research and observation." Nakago and Soi were both delighted by their presents, and Tasuki gulped audibly. Tomo unwrapped the shirt I'd given him, laughed out loud, and yanked it on over his undershirt, pulling a V- symbol.  
  
"You know," Tasuki observed, "they're all a lot nicer this time around."  
  
"A good childhood really does make a difference," Soi informed him, catching hold of Nakago's hand. Mouse noticed this, and began to sing 'Matchmaker, Matchmaker', but Soi threw a pillow at her, knocking her over and halting her mid-note, which cracked all of us up. Amiboshi loved the songbook, and Suboshi, upon unwrapping the yo-yo, laughed out loud, and did a few tricks with it before putting it in his room. Mibu stuck his nose into his book almost as soon as he'd unwrapped it, and Oukami yanked on the 'Wolf Inside' shirt instantly, chuckling. Then, it was my turn to open presents. I got a Weiß Kreuz wallscroll from Mouse, a Gundam Wing OST CD from Po-chan, and a Duo UFO-Catcher doll from Tsubaki. Miaka's gift was a book of art techniques, which I sorely needed, and Tamahome gave me an oak tonfa. Hotohori's present, when opened, caused me to howl with glee.  
  
"ANDVARI!" And in fact, it was the duplicate of the snakeskin-and-brass katana I had owned in high school, but had needed to sell, except for one thing. It was sharp. Nuriko gave me a five-pointed-star wire pendant. The points were made from, clockwise from the top, amber, onyx, sapphire, fire- opal, and moonstone. I grinned, hugged her, and put it on. The black silk cord slipped over my head easily, and the pendant hung between my breasts. Tasuki's present was the approximate size and shape of a wakizashi box, but when I opened it, an amazing sight met my eyes. Tasuki had duplicated his tessen! I shrieked with joy and tackle-glomped him, knocking him to the floor and kissing him firmly. Mouse chuckled.  
  
"Get a room!" I threw a cushion at her, and it hit her in the stomach.  
  
"We just did!" Then, I opened Chichiri's gift. The effect was electric. Magic, strong elemental magic, among other types, the power I had longed for before I even knew what it was, burned through my blood. What a rush! It was better than sake, better than motorcycles, better than sex, a flaming, howling, explosive high like I'd never experienced before and knew I never would again. I felt my heart surge in a flare of purest joy, joy so deep it was almost pain, the completely bearable agony of having a lifelong, seemingly impossible dream suddenly and totally fulfilled. My head was knocked back on my neck as the power raced through my veins, and my eyes blazed gold as an inhuman roar ripped itself from my lungs. When I came back to myself, I was seeing the world through new eyes. I had neglected to put my contact lenses in, so I'd been seeing things through a faint haze, and my eyes crossed as they adjusted to abruptly perfect vision. I realized that I was glowing gold, and, with a thought, banished the glow. Tasuki cautiously approached me.  
  
"Are you all right?" I grinned.  
  
"Am I all right? Am I all right? I'm better than all right, I'm wonderful!" I popped chibi and did a happy dance that, I was informed later by Mouse, reminded her of a highly-caffeinated Chihuahua, chanting, "Mahou des! Mahou des! Mahou des!" I was grabbed up and snuggled by Tasuki. I popped back, twined my arms around his neck and my right leg around his waist, and kissed him heatedly, making Tasuki squeak and blush as he abruptly found himself with a double armful of psychotically happy, amorous otaku. As he released me, I held up my hand, thought Flame…, and a small tongue of fire flickered above my hand! I whooped, hugged Chichiri, and proceeded to ricochet around the room at unbelievable speeds (Author's note: Ever seen 'Flubber'? Yeah, like that.), yelping incoherently, deliriously happy. As soon as I'd calmed down, the dorm doorbell rang. Oukami got up to answer it, and came back a minute later with a little, gray-and-brown, lupine-looking puppy with a red ribbon, rather chewed, tied in a bow around it's neck. "KAWAII! Puppy-chan!" I undid the bow, after reading the tag, and glomping Oukami, and checked the pup's gender. "Male, huh? I know just what I'm gonna call you," I added, seeing that the puppy's tail was rotating like a propeller, "I'm gonna call you Shippou-chan!" Mitsukake and Chiriko had collaborated for my gift, and I unwrapped a statuette of a gold Pernese dragon winding it's tail protectively around a clutch of jade-and-silver eggs. I squeaked, hugged the pair, and put the dragon up on my dresser, effectively puppy-proofing it. In the meantime, Tama-neko had gotten the wrapping off of his gift, but as soon as he smelled the catnip, the little kitten lost all dignity and attacked the box, ripping it to shreds and making off with the catnip mouse inside. Nakago and Soi had collaborated as well, and the woodblock painting that changed scenes when you touched it, I wasn't quite sure how, promptly went up on my wall. Tomo gave me a black baseball cap with 'Bitch… and Proud of It' embroidered on the front in red. I laughed, pulled my hair up into a ponytail, and plunked the hat on, yanking my ponytail through the gap in the back. I caught sight of myself in the mirror, clad only in a loose white men's undershirt, a pair of faded, plaid boxer shorts, and the aforementioned cap, and fell over. Using my new magic, I summoned my 'Born To Raise Hell' T-shirt, my favorite, military-issue camouflage-print cargo pants, some thick, mid-calf-length wool socks, and my beloved clunky black CAT work boots onto my body, and then traded Tasuki's underwear for my own under that. I chucked the undershirt and boxers into Tasuki's laundry hamper, and set about opening the last four presents. Mii had given me a wakizashi that was the perfect match for Andvari, and which I immediately named 'Andvari-ko'. Suboshi's present was a miniature version of the Ryuuseisui, Amiboshi's was a CD of the Japanese 'Mononoke Hime' soundtrack, and Yui's was a red-and-gold-beaded coil bracelet. I hugged all four of them, sat back in a beanbag chair, and sighed, utterly happy. A bit later, I was walking in the snow when I heard Hideo yell.  
  
"Ohayo, Hiko-chan!" I grinned and waved.  
  
"Ohayo, Hideo-kun!" He raced up, the usual, mildly-besotted expression on his face, but stopped short when he saw the dreamy smile on my face. A bit surprised, he said,  
  
"Anta dareka ai shite'n no? Kao ni dete'ru yo![20]" I grinned.  
  
"Hai……" He inquired, a look of almost painful hope on his puppy-ish face,  
  
"Dare ga?[21]"  
  
"Kou Genrou." He got a look of shock on his face, as if he'd been punched in the stomach.  
  
"Shinjirarenai! Anta ano shikon-ha yatsu-me Genrou ai shite'n![22]" Then he ran off, leaving me somewhat disconcerted. Then I remembered that Mouse had informed me, several weeks before the Seishi and Mikos had arrived, that Hideo had a huge crush on me.  
  
"And I just broke his heart," I whispered sadly. Tasuki walked up and slung an arm around my shoulders.  
  
"He'll find someone else to be obsessed with soon, Arkeyla." I giggled. "What's funny?"  
  
"The way you pronounce my name! Aakeiraa…. it's just kawaii!" He snorted.  
  
"Ain't my fault you've got a weird name…" I grinned.  
  
"Nope, it's 'kaasan's fault." We walked back to the dorm, but we'd barely shed our coats and boots before there was a knock on the door. I went to open it, and, grinning like a maniac, ran and hugged the tall, brown-haired man who stood there, his blue eyes twinkling and his cheeks pink from the cold. "CODY! Mouse, Po-chan, Tsubaki, it's Cody!" Cody scooped me up and twirled, laughing.  
  
"Hiko-chan! How's my girl?" Mouse, Po-chan, and Tsubaki ran in, joining the group hug. It was only after we all let go that I noticed that Tasuki was standing there, whapping his tessen ominously against his palm, with a 'korosu zo' expression on his face, growling and glaring at Cody. "Boyfriend?" Cody asked. "Good for you….." He trailed off as he looked around the room. "Dammit, Hiko-chan, you have all the cute friends!" Tasuki took a step forward, and I laid a hand on his arm, stopping him.  
  
"Gen-chan, stop acting like a tomcat in an alley! He's just a friend… and, besides…" I whispered the last words in his ear, "he's gay." Tasuki blinked.  
  
"Okay. Hey, aren't you gonna introduce us?" I grinned.  
  
"Cody, this is my boyfriend Genrou. Gen-chan, this is Craig Hunter, a.k.a Cody."  
  
"Where'd he get the nickname 'Cody'?"  
  
"Well, ya see, he's a computer hacker and programmer of considerable skill, which led to the nickname 'Codemeister', which got shortened to 'Cody'."  
  
"Okay…." By this time, everyone was in the common room. Cody was looking at Tasuki with somewhat of the air of one trying to figure out a puzzle. "Hey, what're you staring at?" I remembered something.  
  
"He knows who you are!" I whispered fiercely, just as Cody yelped.  
  
"Holy shit! Tasuki!"  
  
"I corrupted him into otakudom last summer. He's a fan….." but by this time, Cody had already grabbed Mibu and was saying something about how well he had 'cleaned up'… I sweatdropped. "Oy vey…." Tasuki rolled his eyes in agreement.  
  
"Hen desu.[23]" Tomo chose that particular moment to poke his head out of his room, his hair in a ponytail, a pair of headphones around his neck, and an annoyed look on his pretty face. Cody's jaw dropped.  
  
"So THAT'S what you look like without all that paint… which makes me wonder why you wear it…." The rest of Tomo's body followed his head past the doorframe. He was wearing his 'Here and Queer' T-shirt, a pair of loose jeans, and house slippers. In short, he looked the very picture of the collegiate gay guy.  
  
"Who are you?" I grinned.  
  
"Tomo-kun, this is Cody. He already knows who you are… and he likes boys too." Behind me, I heard Nakago swear softly, but disregarded it. Tomo's eyes fairly bugged out of his head.  
  
"Hontou ka? It's about TIME!" He grabbed Cody by the elbow and began chattering about… something…  
  
"So much for 'strong and silent', na, feather-boy?" Tasuki quipped, earning a death glare from the illusionist. Cody grinned.  
  
"It's about time for me, too! Man, I was starting to think all the cute ones were straight!" I giggled.  
  
"Funny, I always complained about all the cute ones being gay!" He laughed, and, after a moment, we all joined him. For some reason, I suddenly felt compelled to snitch one of Tamahome's shuriken and attach it to my belt. Being a strong believer in the value of gut feelings, like this one, that said I was gonna need it, I did so. Later that day, we were all walking through the campus, talking about this and that, when we walked, literally, into a 'goon with a gun' situation. Said goon had a rifle, and was threatening to shoot anyone who got close… starting with 'that girl'… oh, crap. I saw, as if in slow-motion, the barrel of the gun point at me. I went white. 'I'm gonna die…' As the goon pulled the trigger, Tasuki jumped in the way! The bullet went through him, over my shoulder, and struck a tree. I heard somebody scream, and it took me a second until I realized it was me. I don't have a clear memory of what happened next. All I remember is seeing Tasuki collapse, snatching the shuriken off my belt, hurling it, and dropping to my knees on the cold ground, cradling my dying lover. I heard Nuriko calling an ambulance, but all I could see was Tasuki. His eyes were still open, but I knew that if he closed them I'd lose him. His mouth moved, forming words.  
  
"Love…… you…." It hit me then that he could die.  
  
"TASUKI! Atashi no kokoro! Anata wa atashi no tamashii ga motsu! Shinu na! Tasuki![24]" He coughed up some blood.  
  
"So…… tired……."  
  
"Stay awake for me, baby…… c'mon…… if you go to sleep you won't wake up, do you understand? Just stay with me, lover….." He flashed me a smile, an echo of his former cocky grin.  
  
"Not gonna……. go….. sleep…… stay awake….. long as I can…." I could hear the siren of the approaching ambulance.  
  
"Here comes the ambulance, love….. hear it? Stay here, koi… stay with me…." I held him, crying, talking to him, unconscious of his blood soaking my shirt, until the ambulance came. They loaded him onto a stretcher, and I insisted on staying with him. They let me, and, for the first time, I looked over at where the goon had been standing.. and went pale. "My gods…. I killed someone…." The solitary female paramedic, a woman about my age, with long brown hair, reassured me.  
  
"The one who shot your boyfriend is an escaped murderer, on death row. The police aren't going to arrest you, as you were acting in defense of another." I breathed a sigh of relief, and caught sight of her name tag.  
  
"S…Shouka-san?"  
  
"Hai. I'm an intern from Tokyo University." I managed a slow smile.  
  
"Do you remember Myou Jyu'an?" Her jaw dropped open, a look of almost painful hope on her face. "He'll probably arrive at the hospital around the time we do…." I looked over at Tasuki. He wasn't moving. I let out a small cry of fear. One of the other paramedics, a tall black-haired man in his thirties, reassured me.  
  
"Don't worry, ma'am, he's just unconscious." I sagged in relief, and spent the remainder of the ride to the hospital holding Tasuki's hand. Once we'd arrived, Tasuki was wheeled into the emergency room, and I was escorted to the waiting room, where everyone else in our weird group was waiting. Shouka took one look at Mitsukake, ran over, and hugged him. I watched their reunion, trying to smile.  
  
"One couple reunited as another is about to be torn apart forever…." Nuriko heard me, stomped over, grabbed me by my upper arms, and shook me so hard my brain rattled.  
  
"Don't say that! Genrou's a survivor, you'll see! Heck, if he can survive getting attacked by a plague demon or a pissed-off Ayuru, he can survive getting shot!" She didn't know I heard her whispered, 'I hope…'. For five hours, we sat in the waiting room, praying.. sometimes literally.  
  
'Suzaku…..' I begged silently. 'Phoenix God of the Southern Country, please hear my words and guard your Seishi, Tasuki! God of Love, save my beloved! Onegai!' However, no divine answer was forthcoming, and I soon fell asleep. Some time later, I'm still not sure how much, I felt someone shaking my shoulder. I awoke instantly, fearing the worst, but the doctor was smiling.  
  
"I gather you would be Hiko-chan?" I nodded. "Your lover's awake and demanding to see you." Here he chuckled. "Got quite a foul mouth, hasn't he?" I nodded, grinning. "He's in room 311." I found the room with some help from an orderly (those 'You Are Here' maps aren't worth crap, IMO), and went in. Tasuki was lying on the bed, his jeans still on and his chest wrapped in bandages. He saluted cheerily as I came in.  
  
"Glad to see you're okay, babe! The doc said that I was lucky, the bullet missed everything vital. Pinged a rib, though, but I'm okay, and the cops ain't gonna press charges on you for killing that sunuvabitch… they say, quote, 'she was hysterical……. Just trying to protect her friends…..' unquote, and the dude was on Death Row anyway, so yer home free!" I grinned.  
  
"I'm happy you're all right! Didja see Shouka?"  
  
"Sure I did! She remembered me, too! But enough talk…. C'mere, babe." I went to him, flung my arms around him, and kissed him until I thought we'd both pop.  
  
"Love ya, Gen-chan…" He grinned, flashing his fangs.  
  
"Love ya too, itooshi."  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
[1] This is a rather crude proposition.  
  
[2] 'You have a face like an alien! Get away!'  
  
[3] This is a REAL drink. I swear.  
  
[4] 'Ayuru, you imbecile,'  
  
[5] 'You idiots! The war is OVER!'  
  
[6] Points if you know who said this.  
  
[7] 'My kasa is your kasa, my friend.' Bilingual insanity.  
  
[8] 'Where's your mask?'  
  
[9] A German curse word.  
  
[10] A Dutch curse word.  
  
[11] 'I love you, Nuriko. Now and eternally.'  
  
[12] 'Yes, my love. Forever, forever.'  
  
[13] 'I love you, forever.'  
  
[14] 'Ssh, ssh, it's all right. It's not your fault.'  
  
[15] Yes, that is a word.  
  
[16] 'Of course.'  
  
[17] 'Welcome back! Congratulations!'  
  
[18] A saya in Japanese is a scabbard in English.  
  
[19] Shameless plug! 'Ai wa Itsumo' is the title of my one-shot Slayers fic!  
  
[20] 'You're in love with someone, aren't you? It's written all over your face!'  
  
[21] 'Who?'  
  
[22] 'I can't BELIEVE it! You're in love with that fang-toothed jerk Genrou!'  
  
[23] 'He's weird.'  
  
[24] 'TASUKI! My heart! You hold my soul! Don't die! Tasuki!' 


End file.
